Changing places
by romanticangel92
Summary: AU. What if the Doctor had meet Donna at Henricks? What if Jack had ended up in the tardis on his wedding day and what if Rose was a flirty captain he'd picked up from the 1940's?. ON AN INDEFINITE HIATUS.
1. Run

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A/N : I've had this storyline in my head for a long time now so I thought it was about time I wrote it down. Hope you like.

* * *

It was eight o clock in the morning, in London, England, on the planet Earth when an alarm clock started beeping manically. Donna Noble groaned and shoved a pillow over her head but the ringing just would not stop. Eventually, she slammed her hand down on the button and the ringing died down. "Donna, get up it's time for work, you don't want to get fired yet again do you?" her mother's voice asked from outside her bedroom door. Donna rolled her eyes and forced herself out of her warm, comfortable bed to go to a job she hated with a passion. She got dressed into her black pants and a blue checked blouse, the uniform she wore at the store she worked at. She tied her long, thick, red hair back into a ponytail before grabbing a piece of toast, her mother had made her, on the way out.

"Bye sweetheart, be careful, theres been rumours about aliens running about out there!" her beloved grandad Wilfred called out to her as she made her way outside. Donna chuckled to herself and shook her head as she walked and slipped her arms into her black cotton coat. Her grandad was nuts. Aliens, as if!. Even though Donna herself did not understand Wilfred's obessesion with aliens, it's what she loved most about him. He had such an active imagination, he should of become a writer!. Donna sat down at the bus shelter as she waited for the red bus to pull up. When it did, she got on it and shortly after, arrived at Henricks, Donna's living nightmare. It wasn't that she hated the work, she found that bit quite easy but her boss was a complete horror. Blonde, leggy and thought she knew it all that stupid Neryis. And as usual, the work day went slowly, well except for lunch time when she went to meet up with her gorgeous boyfriend Lance. Then it was back to Henricks until finally the clock struck half five and the shop was closing. Just when she thought it was safe to leave, the security guard stopped her as she was about to exit the front doors and handed her some lottery numbers.

"What's this?" she demanded.

"Lottery numbers for Wilson, go take them him for me". Donna gllared at the guard.

"I'm not your flippin slave" she hissed but turned back around and headed towards the elevator. Well it did give her an excuse to avoid her mother for a few minutes longer and Neryis had gone home now. She walked out of the lift when it had reached the top floor and knocked on the blue door in the long hallway that was labelled technicians office. "Wilson, I have your numbers" Donna said feeling a bit impatient. After a few minutes, still nobody had answeared."Wilson, open the bloody door, I have your numbers!" she yelled. Donna sighed and decided to check the storage room. She opened the large red doors and slowly walked in. For some reason she felt a bit creeped out by the fact it was completely silent. She looked around but there didn't seem to be anyone in there."Wilson?" she called out again but still nobody answeared. Suddenly she heard a creak and it was then she noticed the plastic shop dummys dumped in the storage room were beginning to move."What the hell?" she nearly screamed. Donna's eyes widened and she took a few steps back. But they were still walking towards her."Okay, Derrick is this you? Derrick? this isn't funny and I swear when I find you, I'm gonna give you one hell of a slap mate" she shouted to no one. Donna took a deep intake of breath as they backed her against the wall. Oh this was so not the way she planned on dying, death by walking manniquins! she thought, feeling a bit indiginant. She watched in horror as they raised their plastic arms in the air and she shut her eyes tight. She waited for them to chop her head off but when she realised her head still seemed to be in place, she opened her eyes and saw a forty something man in a leather jacket with huge ears grinning at her.

"Run" he whispered and before she had chance to even register what just happened, she found herself running beside him, holding on tight to his hand until they managed to get into the lift. At first the man struggled as one of the manniquins popped it's arm through the closing doors but he pulled at it and it came right off.

"Who the flippin hell are you? " Donna gasped.

"That's not important" the man said cryptically as if he was some CIA agent.

"What happened to Wilson?"

"Wilson?"

"The technican" she explained.

"Wilson's dead" he replied grimly and there was silence for a few moments before she spoke again.

"What was all that then? was it a student thing?"

"Students? why would it be students?" he replied, frowning at her.

"Because for a joke like that, it has to be students" Donna told him as if it was obvious.

"Good thinking but no it's not students".

"You cannot be telling me that those plastic dummys are actually alive and they killed Wilson!". The man looked at her without a smile or a grin. He was serious.

"You are mad".

"What, don't you believe in aliens?". Donna barely looked at him for five seconds before bursting out in hysterics.

"You really should meet my grandad, I think you two would get along quite nicely". The lift doors slid open and Donna followed the man out through the fire escape. Donna grabbed hold of him just before he could escort her out into the cold night air.

"What now?" he sighed, impatiently.

"Say it is aliens....what can you do about them? there were half a million of them up there!" she said, pointing up at the ceiling.

"Half a millions a bit dramatic, more like a hundred but you see I have this thing" he said suddenly showing her a metal box thing she hadn't noticed had been in his free hand the entire time they were running.

"What's that? is that a...?"

"A bomb? yes" he nodded.

"Your just going to blow the entire building up?" Donna asked, alarmed.

"Yeah and I might well die in the process but don't mind me, you just run along, go home and eat your beans on toast" the man retorted as he pratically pushed Donna outside. She glared at him dangerously, a glare that usually scared even the toughest of men but he didn't seemed to be fazed that easily and gave her a quick grin before closing the doors on her. She was just about to turn away and forget about this obviously insane person before that said person re-opened the doors."Oh yeah, what was your name?".

"Donna" she replied slowly.

"Nice to meet you Donna, I'm the Doctor, now run for your life!" he smirked, waved the bomb at her and then went back inside. She stared at the doors for two seconds and then legged it as far away from the building as she possibly could. There was no way Donna Noble was dying tonight because of some stupid 'aliens' and some insane lunatic. When she made it to a busy street, she signalled for a taxi and fifteen minutes later walked back into her mother's house, in silence. She flung off her coat and when she walked into the living room she found her grandad, her mother and Lance all sat around the tv. On the news, they showed a viideo of Henricks being blown up. "Woah" Donna muttered and everybody suddenly noticed her presence in the room. Sylvia got up from where she was sitting and ran to give her daughter a hug,

"Donna, thank heavens, we couldn't reach your phone, we thought you were still in there....I've been so worried".

"Well, that's a first" Donna murmered to herself. After her mother let her go, Lance got up and gave her a kiss.

"Sit down, Donna, your obviously in shock". Donna didn't even bother putting up a fight and sunk back into the comfortable arm chair. She yawned tiredly as Slyvia placed a warm cup of tea infront of her daughter.

"Thanks" she said and took a sip before Lance sat down on the seat beside her.

"Donna, maybe you need something stronger than that. Fancy popping down to the pub?" Lance asked her, concerned. Donna raised an eyebrow at him.

"Football's on isn't it?". Lance blushed awkardly.

"Yeah but I don't want to leave you after what just happened".

"Go on, just go, I'll be alright" Donna insisted and then after he'd gone, she wondered what the hell it was with guys and their obession with kicking a ball around a muddy feild.

"So" Wilf said after he'd waited for Sylvia and Lance to leave the room."Was it really aliens behind it?". Donna raised her eyes to the ceiling before smiling at him.

"Grandad don't be daft of course there were no aliens".Wilfred didn't look to convinced though.

"I'm tellin you Donna, it was aliens, I bet my pension it was". Donna sighed before walking upstairs to take a nice relaxing bath. Her grandad was never going to let go of the idea of there being life on other planets. That was just plain ridiculous, even after seeing those manniquins earlier on, she still refused to believe in even the possibility of the existence of aliens.

* * *

The next morning her alarm went off but then she remembered that crazy man with the big ears had gone and blown up her job and effectively ruined her life in the process. Even though she hated working at Henricks, it was still the first permanent job position she'd had in a while and her mother had been so relieved when she had got it. She had actually stopped nagging her every single minute, instead she'd cut it down to just once an hour. Donna got dressed into some jeans and a blue jumper before walking into the kitchen to make herself a bowl of cereal. On the fridge her mother had stuck a note stating she was going to meet some friends for breakfast while Wilfred had left one saying he was going to the hills. What he meant by the hills was that he was going to his favourite spot to go stargaze and obsess about aliens. Donna sighed and sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in one hand and that day's newspaper in the other before she nearly had a heart attack at the sudden banging at the door. She got up and slowly walked through the hallway and to her suprise saw the catflap, they got for her old cat Mittens, shaking as if a cat had just left the house which was impossible since Mittens had been dead for five years. She frowned and bent down infront of the flap. Then it opened again and Donna nearly screamed as she saw the weirdo, that called himself 'the Doctor', from yesterday pop his head through. Donna jumped to her feet and swung open the front door."What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning at her. Donna stared at him in disbelief.

"I live here, moron. What about you?".

"I was just....your not made of plastic are you?" he replied and started tapping her forehead.

"No, what about you?" she snapped before punching him in his causing him to stumble backwards. Once he'd found his balance again, he glared at her annoyed.

"Obviously no living plastic here. I'll be off then" he said turning away but Donna grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him inside.

"Have a cup of tea and you can tell me what the heck is going on" she hissed and pratically forced him into the kitchen. As she made the tea, he started going through the mail that lay on the table.

"Donna Noble" he muttered, taking note of her name.

"So what is your name again?" Donna asked placing the coffee down on the table.

"The Doctor".

"Yeah....okay" Donna said, rolling her eyes before , out of nowhere, an arm came flying towards her face and started suffocating her. The Doctor quickly leapt onto his feet, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the arm which turned and attacked him, leaving Donna looking on in shook. How the heck had that arm got into her home? had it followed her or something?. The Doctor finally managed to rip the arm off his face and kill it before he got up and started making his way towards her front door. Donna quickly ran after him.

"Oi, what was that about? why did that thing try to kill me?". The Doctor looked at her and shook his head.

"It didn't try to kill you, it was after me, you only meet me so it traced you down and was in luck when I traced it here".

"What, so the whole world evolves around you?" Donna asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, more or less".

"You think your so impressive" Donna smirked following him out of her home and down the street without bothering to grab a jacket on her way out.

"I am so impressive" he replied without a hint of sarcasim in his voice.

"Seriously, who the heck are you? I mean, what kind of lunatic goes around nearly blowing himself up and pretending aliens exist?".

"Aliens _do _exist". Donna simply frowned at him.

"And who goes around calling himself the Doctor?".

"I do" he said simply. Donna stared at him like he was insane.

"Doctor _who_?" she asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Just the Doctor" he answeared her. She looked away iritated for a second and when she looked back he was gone. Was this man just entirely in her own head or something? she was starting to believe that maybe he was.

* * *

The next morning Donna met Lance for lunch at a cafe, just around the corner from her house. Yesterday after running into that Doctor bloke again, she'd done some research on the internet and ended up emailing this man called Clive, who apparently knew everything there was to know about him. She'd agreed to meet him at his house, so Lance had driven her there but she'd come straight out as soon as he had starting yapping on about aliens. "I think I need to get a new job and maybe a hobby. It's because I have nothing to do that I'm obsessing about this guy, I'm getting as bad as grandad for goodness sake.....Lance what do you think?" she asked her boyfriend, who was just sat there staring at her.

"Tell me about this Doctor" he said tonelessly. She frowned at him, confused.

"Sorry I thought I was talking about me for a second".

"Babe, you can tell me, I'll protect you from him, babe, sweetheart, babe" Lance said in a robotic voice, ignoring her previous comment.

"What the hell's wrong with you?".

"Champagne?" A waiter asked from beside them. Donna shook her head.

"No, thanks".

"Sir, champagne?".

"We didn't order any champagne" Lance snapped.

"Madam, champagne?". Donna was just about to tell him to get lost, they'd said no about five times already when she realised it was him. It was the Doctor. Lance started to smile when he noticed him and that's when Donna realised something was wrong. Had Lance had botex recently and just forgot to tell her about it?.

"Aw, got you" Lance smirked and stood up. Then to Donna's alarm, his hand changed shape into some sort of human saw.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted at her and she didn't have to be told twice. All around her people started running around manically. Donna made a dash for the kitchen and the Doctor followed on behind her after putting Lance into a headlock and pulling his head off. Hold on.....

"You've pulled my boyfriends head off?!" she screamed.

"He's not your boyfriend" the Doctor yelled back and they ran out of the back of the building with Lance's body chasing after them.

"Damn it, it's a dead end. Quick, pull that thingy majig of yours out and open the gates!" Donna said pointing to the red gates with the padlock on them. But the Doctor ignored her and stood by a small blue box.

"Or get in here" he suggested but Donna wasn't listening.

"He's coming, he'll get us!".

"Get inside, come on!" the Doctor yelled, losing patience. Donna, realising that Lance's body was about to break out, didn't bother argueing with him anymore and slipped inside the box. When she got inside, she gasped as she saw how much bigger it was then how it appeared on the outside.

"It's bigger on the inside!" she gawped.

"Really? I hadn't noticed" he said, rolling his eyes.

"Aliens really do exist don't they? your an alien!" Donna cried, putting her hands over her mouth.

"Yes, well done" he clapped mockingly.

"Oi space-boy, anymore of that and I'll slap you" she warned but the Doctor just smirked.

"I've travelled through time and space and fought off aliens. You think I'm scared of a stupid ape?". Donna didn't hesitate before walking right up to him and slapping him. Hard.

"Ow!, okay, I'm sorry for calling you a stupid ape!" he moaned, rubbing his head. Donna grinned but then the grin quickly faded as she remembered her boyfriend. She looked over at the console and his head was melting!.

"Lance!" she screamed and the Doctor noticed what she was screaming at.

"Oh no no no no no". The Doctor quickly ran up to the console and picked up the head but it was too late and the Doctor's hands were just covered in plastic goo.

"That's gross" Donna remarked before remembering Lance again."Lance, oh what am I going to tell his parents?". Donna glared at the Doctor who was pressing some buttons."What are you doing? what's happened to Lance?"

"I'm just tracing down a signal.....who's Lance again?" he frowned.

"My boyfriend, for goodness sake, you've forgot about my flippin boyfriend already?!".

"I'm sort of busy trying to save the world".

"Forget it, your just useless" she snapped before the Doctor pulled down on a levar and the box started to shake."What now?".

"The tardis is taking us to where the signal's come out and then we'll find whatever is causing the plastic to come alive". The box stopped and the Doctor walked out with Donna following him. He leant against the wall and scrunched up his face, trying to think.

"What are we suppose to do here?" Donna asked noticing they were next to the River Thames.

"I need to find a transmitter...something big enough to sound a signal like the one I traced....it's big and round like a wheel or....." he trailed off when he saw Donna smirking at him."What?". She pointed behind him, he turned around and saw nothing."What?" he asked again and she rolled her eyes to the sky. He wasn't a very bright alien was he?. He turned around and then noticed what she was looking at. The London eye. "Oh...." he said before smiling."Fantastic!". He grabbed her hand and they began to run. He told her that the source behind all of this was probably somewhere underground and then Donna noticed a grid nearby. They ran to it, opened the lid and climbed down some ladders. As soon as they'd got into the main part of what looked like a factory, Donna spotted her boyfriend sat on the floor with his arms wrapped his knees. He was shaking and clearly was scared to death.

"Asking permission to approach the nestene conciousness" the Doctor called out but Donna didn't hear him. Instead all of her attention was on Lance.

"Lance!" she cried out before climbing down another pair of ladders and running to him. The Doctor rolled his eyes, those stupid apes never listened to a single thing he said. Then Donna looked at what the Doctor was looking at and saw what looked like a pit of lava except it had a mouth and eyes. It was roaring something to the Doctor and then two plastic manniquins grabbed hold of him. Then they pointed at the blue box that they had captured and brought down into their layer.

"No, it's not like that" the Doctor pleaded."I swear I don't want to harm you, I just want to help". Then one of the manniquins pulled out a blue bottle of liquid he had stored somewhere in his leather jacket."I never planned on using it, it was just for protection". The nestene then shouted something back to him and he looked at the tardis, panicked."Donna" he yelled to her."Run, get out of here, go on!". Lance didn't hesitate, he pulled himself up and hurried up the ladders. Donna followed but stopped and looked back at the Doctor. Lance frowned at her.

"Donna, that things dangerous, it was going to kill me, let''s just leave him, c'mon!". Donna looked at her boyfriend, appalled. She couldn't just leave the man here. He'd saved her life and even though he'd destroyed her job, he'd done it to save millions of people. Her eye caught sight of a chain hanging off the wall nearby. She was going to have do it even though she had always hated heights. Donna gave Lance a quick kiss before grabbing hold of the chain and swinging towards the Doctor and the two dummys. On her way past, she'd sucessfully managed to knock them over, sending the blue liquid flying straight into the nestene conciousness and ended up nearly knocking herself out by flying straight into the wall.

"Ow, you were suppose to catch me you prune!" she snapped angrily at the Doctor, who shrugged.

"Sorry". She picked herself up off the ground, walked straiight towards him, raised out her arm and then slapped him across the face in reply.

* * *

The Doctor gave Donna and Lance a lift in his ship back home to Donna's house. Donna had rung her mother earlier and she'd been screaming about how a load of shop window dummys had come alive and started to chase after her while she was doing her Christmas shopping. Donna had grinned and rolled her eyes. Now she stood outside of her home with Lance clinging to her like a needy little five year old. "Thanks for the lift" Donna smiled.

"Nah, it was nothing".

"Yeah I guess especially since I saved your life earlier" Donna couldn't help but gloat."What would you have done without me?".

"You did save my life" he agreed."Thanks, for that by the way. And I suppose....if you want....you could come with me". Donna stared at him as if he'd grown another head.

"Come with you? in that ship?".

"Yeah". Donna thought about it for a moment and was seriously tempted to say no for her grandads sake until Lance tapped her on the leg and reminded her of what she would have to put up with.

"Oh what the hell, okay!" she laughed and ran into the tardis leaving her needy and completely useless boyfriend behind to go feel sorry for himself. Besides Donna's grandad would just love to hear about how she'd run off with an alien and now she wouldn't have to sit at home and listen to her mother tell her what a disappointment she was. Lance watched as the blue box disappeared with his girlfriend inside. What the hell was he suppose to tell Slyvia?.


	2. Into the future

**A/N : Thanks for the reviews and thank you to TheNextRoseTyler for betaring this for me :).**

* * *

As soon as Donna ran back into the TARDIS, the doors swung shut and the Doctor started pressing random buttons - Donna had no idea what they did exactly.

"Right then, Donna Noble," the Doctor said, grinning at her, "You tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time? What's it going to be?"

"Shut up and let me think, space-boy" Donna snapped, "I think... forwards!" The Doctor nodded before pressing some more random buttons and pulling down a lever. Then he glanced up at her.

"How far?"

"How about when we're all living in an underwater city, and we're all part fish?" She asked seriously. The Doctor had barely looked at her for more than five seconds before he started to laugh. Donna glared at him fiercely, "What?"

"Donna, we're not in a movie. You will never become part fish, trust me on this... although you do become part cat." He said thoughtfully, "What about New Earth, then?"

"How about one hundred years into the future?" Donna suggested. The Doctor had to stop himself from rolling his eyes - Donna Noble was not a lot of fun, was she?

But still, he typed in the co-ordinates anyway, and the TARDIS started shaking briefly and then came to a halt. Donna looked at the TARDIS doors and then looked back at the Doctor, who smiled at her.

"There you go, step outside those doors and it's the twenty second century."

"Seriously?" Donna asked starting to think that maybe this was just one, really weird dream.

"Yeah, but that's a bit boring though. Do you want to go further?"

"Seriously?" She said again and he nodded.

"Okay!" The Doctor moved around the console and pulled down the lever again. He typed in some different co-ordinates and the TARDIS started to shake once again before stopping.

"Ten thousand years into the future. Step outside, it's the year twelve thousand and five - the New Roman Empire." He told her, looking impressed with himself. Donna raised an eyebrow at him.

"You just think your so great, don't you?".

"I _am_ so great!" the Doctor said looking at her seriously.

"Yeah, you wish, space-boy" Donna scoffed.

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go!" He replied and they travelled even further into the future. The TARDIS stopped once again, and this time Donna ran right up to the doors before glancing back at the Doctor hesitantly.

"Where are we now?" She asked, and the Doctor pointed to the doors.

"Go out and see for yourself." Donna frowned, and then did as she was told. When she walked out, she noticed that she was in a wooden, very modern sort of room with a big window looking out into space. She glanced out and gasped when she realized she was looking out onto the planet Earth.

"You lot," The Doctor said coming up beside her. "You spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're about to get killed by eggs or beef, global warming or asteroids... but you never took the time to imagine the impossible - like maybe you actually survive. This is the year 5.5, apple, 26. Five billion years into your future. This is the day the sun expands. Donna Noble, welcome to the end of the world."

As soon as he'd finished speaking, Donna threw him a strange look. This was crazy, this was the sort of thing her Granddad would love to have seen.

"Come on, let's not stand around here all day!" the Doctor said, pulling Donna through a door and down a long corridor. Donna glared at him, she was _so_on the verge of smacking him again... but she would just let it go for now, since it was he who had brought her along in his time machine and Donna was in no way ready to go home just yet.

Suddenly, a robotic voiced echoed throughout the hallway from speakers hung in the corners of the ceiling, almost giving Donna a heart attack

"Shuttle five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester suite." Donna looked at the Doctor, whose face was completely blank.

"What the hell does that thing mean by guests?"

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On what you think it means by guests." He replied.

Donna felt irritated - he was the most cryptic person she'd ever met. She hated the fact that she had no idea what the hell he was talking about half the time. It made her feel a bit... well, stupid.

"Anyway, what's going on? Why are people or... aliens or whatever, watching the Earth die?"

"For fun." He replied, sounding as serious as a heart attack.

"That's just twisted." Donna murmured as they walked through another door and found themselves in a large observation gallery. The room was empty at the moment, but Donna suspected it wouldn't stay that way for long. She walked over to the window and frowned.

"Hey, hold on a second, the Earth looks the same as ever. I thought the continents shifted and things."

"They did, but the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth" He told her as he joined her by the window.

"Wait, what's the trust?"

"The National Trust is a universal organization, it was keeping Earth preserved - but now the money's run out and so nature's taken over." Yhe Doctor explained. Donna looked up at him, worried.

"So are we are here to save the Earth? That's what you do after all, save people."

"No, we're not saving it. Time is up."

"But you've got to, billions of people will die!" Donna cried.

"There's no one on Earth anymore, Donna. It's been deserted; the humans all left hundreds of years ago."

"Just me, then." Donna whispered, and looked back outside.

This was too weird: her granddad, her mother... they were all dead now. There were no more humans except for her, but somehow she didn't think she counted since she'd skipped forwards in time.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" A voice behind them demanded, and they both twirled around to see a tall, blue man glaring at them suspiciously. Donna's eyes widened - she had never seen anything like it!

"Oh, that's charming" The Doctor said, mocking offense, "Donna, quit staring for goodness sake!" He hissed into her ear, and she blushed deeply.

"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked, they'll be on their way any minute now!" The blue man cried, panicking.

"That's us, we're guests!" The Doctor grinned, pulling out what looked like a wallet from his leather jacket and proceeding to flash it at the blue man. "Look there, you see? It's fine. I'm the Doctor, this is Donna Noble. She's my assistant, I don't go anywhere without her."

_Assistant?_ Forget about him bringing her here, she was going to go ahead and slap him anyway. Screw manners.

"Well... obviously." The blue man began to apologise, looking embarrassed, "Apologies et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy."

The Doctor nodded in reply, before the man walked off to alert the staff that the 'guests' were here. When the man was gone, the Doctor flashed the wallet at Donna resulting in a slap across the face.

"Ow! What the hell did I do now?"

"Assistant? You told him I was your flipping assistant!" Donna hissed, annoyed.

"Well, what was I sup_posed_ to say?"

"Anything other than _assistant_ would have been fine." Donna scowled and the Doctor rolled his eyes. Donna Noble was a bloody piece of work.

A few minutes later, the Doctor and Donna watched as the blue man (apparently the host of the entire event) stood up on a stage with a microphone.

"We have in attendance, the Doctor and Donna Noble. Thank you, all staff to their positions!"

As soon as he'd finished, about twenty other blue people came rushing through and started scurrying about.

"Hurry now, thank you, as quick as we can! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." Everybody clapped as three tree-like humanoids walked through. In the centre, one of them wore a red satin dress. The other two wore robes.

"Next from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor's grin spread as a small, blue creature hovered in a black chair. As the host went on calling out more alien names, Jabe, the lady tree, approached the Doctor and Donna, holding a small plant in a little yellow pot.

"The gift of peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather." She told them, and handed the plant pot to Donna, who smiled pleasantly. What the hell were they going to give her? They hadn't realized they had needed to bring something.

"Thank you! Gifts... yeah, er... " The Doctor cleared his throat before feeling around in his jacket for something, and, much to Donna.s amusement, stared to blush, "Breath from my lungs."

Then he proceeded to breath on Jabes face, who had her eyes shut and looked as if she was enjoying it.

"How... intimate." she smiled flirtatiously.

"There's more where that came from." He said, equally as flirtatious.

"I bet there is." She giggled, and Donna rolled her eyes. Typically male, she thought with disgust. Flirts with anything that moves - and in this case, it was a flipping tree!

"And now, the sponsor of this whole event, the face of Boe!" The host called out, and they all turned to see a massive face in a jar being wheeled in. To Donna's surprise, the face was wearing make-up! The face was clearly a female judging from the bright red lipstick. While Donna was busy staring at the face with undisguised interest, the Moxx of Balhoon approached the Doctor.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily salvia." The alien said, and, noticing Donna was the one holding Jabe's plant, proceeded to spit right in her face. She looked down at him, startled. The Doctor, sensing Donna was about to slap him, stepped in front of her and smiled pleasantly at the creature.

"Thank you." The Doctor said politely, and then the creature moved onto to the next guest. He turned around to face Donna who looked as if she was about to kill him.

"He _spat_ at me." She said through gritted teeth, "I wanted to slap him but you got in my way." The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"Donna, if you're going to travel with me, you cannot slap or attack or even insult any little thing that might annoy you."

"Agreed." Donna said simply, surprising him, "But that does not include you. Here is my gift of a slap." She then hit him hard across the cheek.

"Cut it _out!_" He snapped, just as a group of hooded creatures approached them.

"A gift of peace in all good faith." It said robotically, and handed the Doctor a silver egg. The Doctor frowned at it for a moment, before grinning again and breathing heavily all over them before they moved onto the next guest.

"And last but not least," The host spoke again, "Our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last human."

Another door opened, and Donna gasped in horror at the sight of what looked like a trampoline, made out of human skin with eyes and a mouth being wheeled through. The lipstick covered mouth spread into a stiff smile.

"The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen." The host finished, and everyone applauded.

"Oh, now don't stare." The face spoke in a smokey voice, "I know, its shocking isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am!"

Donna watched her with an open mouth while the Doctor laughed silently, "Thin and dainty, I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me!" One of the two men in white suits that had wheeled her in grabbed a can from his belt, and sprayed whatever was in it all over Cassandra before she continued: "Truly, I am the last human."

"She gives Cher a run for her money." Donna muttered and the Doctor nudged her in the ribs.

"My father was a Texan," Cassandra continued, "My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on Earth and were the last to be buried in soil..."

As she spoke, Donna took a quick glance around the back of her and noticed with disgust she was completely flat.

"I have come to honor them and say goodbye. Oh, no tears." She gasped with what was obviously a fake sniff, "But behold! I bring gifts from Earth itself: the last remaining Ostrich egg. Legends say it has a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband?" The Doctor laughed at Cassandra's joke but Donna stifled a yawn. Just as she was getting bored, two of the blue staff members wheeled in what looked like a jukebox.

"And here is another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod, and it stores classical music from Earth's greatest composers."

"That's a flipping jukebox, get your facts straight!" Donna snapped and everyone stared at her briefly before turning their attention back to lady O'Brien, who simply ignored her.

"Play on!" Cassandra commanded, and a member of staff switched it on, causing it to start playing _Tainted Love_ by Soft Cell. Donna rolled her eyes but the Doctor nudged her again.

"What now?" She asked irritatedly.

"Can you just learn to keep that gob of yours shut?" Donna glared at him but he ignored her and started dancing along to the music, reminding Donna of the time her dad had started dancing at her twelfth birthday party. That had been one big embarrassing nightmare.

"You've travelled all through time and space, fought off evil aliens but you've never been to a single dance class?" She muttered but he didn't hear her. Donna, who was starting to get so bored she thought she might start falling to sleep right there, decided to go take a look around and rushed out of the gallery leaving the Doctor talking to Jabe the tree woman.

"Doctor?" Jabe asked politely.

The Doctor had started to go after Donna but the tree had stopped him in his tracks. In one of her hands she was holding a very modernized digital camera, and he allowed her to take a picture of him before running out to find his fiery companion.

Donna, after wandering around for a bit, had found herself in a small room, looking out of another window, giving her a nice view of Earth before it was going to burn. _What am I doing here?_ She found herself thinking.

She'd just left her granddad, her mum (although that was understandable) and her boyfriend behind to run off with a complete stranger who was also an alien. He was so cryptic; he'd never even told her a single thing about himself. For all she knew he could be an evil alien who killed everyone he asked to go with him. After all why else would he have been travelling alone? Suddenly the door opened behind her, and a blue woman dressed in a dark green body suit and a matching hat walked in.

"Sorry, am I allowed to be in here?" Donna asked softly.

"You have to give us permission to speak." The alien informed her. Donna stared at her for a moment, not sure of what to say.

"Um... you have permission?" The alien smiled at her.

"Thank you! And no, you're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere."

"Okay, thanks." Donna watched as the woman walked over to a panel in the wall on the left and typed in a code. She wondered why this woman would choose to work in a job where you couldn't even speak unless you had permission from one of the guests.

"So, what's your name?"

"Raffalo" She answered.

"Raffalo, nice name. I'm Donna."

"Don't worry Miss, I won't be long... just carrying out some maintenance".

"Alright then, I'll get out of your way." Donna smiled and walked out of the room. After she had left, Raffalo caught sight of a metal spider crawling around the vents. She offered to help but it ran away... at least she'd thought so until it came back with a hundred more following in its wake.

Her eyes widened in horror, and she screamed as they dragged her away.

The Doctor, after what felt like hours, finally found Donna sat down on some steps in an empty room with yet another big window showing off the Earth, which was starting to burn. She looked sad and he knew she was mourning the death of her planet. He could understand how she felt... he was still mourning the loss of his own.

"So... what do you think?" The Doctor asked her. Donna looked at him and smiled weakly.

"It's beautiful I suppose," She sighed, "But the aliens... they're just so... alien! I mean, my granddad yapped on about them all the time but I never ever believed him and now... it's just changed my view of everything."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South." The Doctor joked.

"So... where are you from then?" Donna asked him lightly, wanting to find out something about this man, who had literally run into her life and turned it completely upside down.

"I'm from all over the place." Donna frowned at him. What kind of an answer was that? Donna decided it was better not to press him, and asked some more questions about aliens.

"They all speak English."

"No you just hear English." He told her, "It's the TARDIS' telepathic field. It gets inside your head and translates the languages for you." Donna stood up, suddenly feeling a bit alarmed.

"It's in my head?"

"Well, in a good way." The Doctor assured her.

"Your machine gets inside my head, does lord knows what to my brain and you think that's good?" Donna snapped, starting to feel angry. The Doctor glanced at her, taken back by her fury.

"I didn't think about it like that."

"Do you ever think space-boy? In fact, what is it with you? You invite me to run off with you in your little time travelling machine, you know a lot about me but you haven't said anything about yourself. When I asked where you come from, all you said was that you were from all over the place. Who the heck are you? No, _what_ are you?!"

The Doctor looked away from her, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was heading but Donna didn't care. If he was some sort of sick and twisted evil alien and he had kidnapped her, she was going to go mad.

"I'm just... the Doctor" He sighed.

"From what planet?" Donna demanded.

"Well it's not as if you'll know where it is! I doubt you even know were Germany is on your Earth map." Donna's eyes flashed with anger. To add insult to injury, he was now calling her stupid.

"Where are you from?" She yelled furiously.

"Why is it even important?!"

"I need to know, just tell me who you are!" The Doctor felt his patience slowly fall apart with each moment she pestered him for answers he wasn't ready to give.

"This is who I am!" He yelled back at her, "Right now, right here, alright? All that counts is here and now, this is me!" Donna fell silent for a few moments, and then walked back towards him.

"Alright, my mother always taught me never to argue with the designated driver... mostly because it was usually her I was arguing with but that's not important... it's not like I can just call a cab can I? There's not even a signal." Donna said, looking at her mobile that she'd just taken from her jeans pocket.

"Tell you what," The Doctor said, taking the phone from her, "With a little bit of jiggery pokery..."

"Is jiggery pokery even a word?" Donna pointed out, smiling.

"Here you go!" The Doctor replied, hanging back her phone, "Call your mother."Donna laughed humourlessly.

"Have you met my mother? I think I'll just phone my granddad." Donna dialed in her home number as she walked away from the Doctor and, as she had hoped, Wilf picked it up.

"Donna is that you sweetheart?"

"Yeah, it's me. I just wanted to phone and let you know I'm alright." Donna felt desperate to tell Wilfred where she was exactly, but she felt that maybe it would be better if she told him in person the next time she saw him. Which would be soon, she hoped.

"Good, so you'll be home in time for dinner will you?"

"Erm... yeah, maybe." Donna replied, frowning. Would she be back in time for dinner? Or would she even be back at all? She turned off her phone and put it back in her pocket as she walked back towards the Doctor, who grinned at her.

"Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill."

"That was five billion flippin' years ago! He's dead now, I guess..." She trailed off, feeling a bit sad.

"Bundle of laughs, you are." The Doctor commented and Donna rolled her eyes at him, "Come on, let's go back and see what's going on." Donna nodded and followed him back through the hallway.

Meanwhile, in the host's office, one of the metal spiders made its way up his desk and next to his mug. He eyed it suspiciously.

"What are you doing in here?" The spider blinked at him with its one eye before pressing down on a yellow button on the control panel.

"Sun filter deactivated." A robotic voice from the speakers announced.

"No... No!" The host cried out in alarm.

"Sun filter descending."

"No! Sun filter up! No! No!" The host screamed as he tried in vain to cancel the action that the metal spider caused, but it was too late and as soon as the sun filter descended, he was engulfed by a bright light.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." The Doctor said to Donna as they walked back into the gallery. As they entered the room, the Doctor stopped by the door, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started fiddling with the control panel that was built into the wall. As he was doing that, Jabe walked up to them, wanting to chat with the Doctor no doubt, Donna thought as the tree eyed her up.

"What do you think, Jabe?" The Doctor asked, noticing the tree's presence, "Listen to the engines; they pitched up about thirty hertz. Dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." Jabe frowned.

"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know but I can show you to the maintenance duct. You and your... wife." Jabe said looking at Donna, who nearly choked to death on her own spit.

"Wife?" The Doctor asked, suppressing a laugh, "We're definitely not married."

"Partner?"

"If only he was that lucky." Donna commented.

"Concubine?"

"Wrong again." The Doctor said as he scanned the panel.

"Prostitute?" Jabe asked, eyeing Donnas' choice of shirt. Donna glared at her and was about one step away from slapping the tree when the Doctor grabbed her tightly by the arm, and pulled her back to his side.

"I'm his friend if you must know. And if you two don't mind, I think I'll skip the flirt fest and have a quick word with Cher over there, alright?" Donna said to them and she glanced at the Doctor, who was looking uncertain.

"Just don't slap her or start a fight."

"Gross! There's not a hope in hell I'm touching her dodgy old skin." Donna shuddered and walked away. After she'd walked off, the Doctor and Jabe exited the gallery and made their way to the maintenance duct. Donna walked up to Cassandra who was stood looking out of the window with the two men in suits next to her, spraying her with 'moisturizer'.

"Soon the sun will blossom into a red giant and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy. Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice." Cassandra sighed dreamily. Donna frowned at her and wondered how she'd ever been human at all.

"What happened to everyone else then? The human race, where did it go?" Donna asked.

"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky." Donna looked at her in disbelief.

"So your not_ actually_ the last human?"

"I am the last _pure _human." She told Donna snottily, "The others... mingled. Oh, they'd call themselves 'new humans' and 'proto-humans' and 'digi-humans' and even 'human-ish'."

"But you stayed behind?"

"I kept myself pure." Cassandra purred, and Donna raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but how many operations have you had to keep yourself 'pure'?"

"Seven hundred and eight. Next week is my seven hundredth and ninth. I'm having my blood bleached." Donna grimaced, "So that's why you wanted a word, is it? I guess you could use a little liposuction and maybe a smaller nose..."

"Oi!" Donna snapped, starting to rethink that whole _not touching her skin_ thing, "I'd rather die than become a bitchy old hag of a trampoline like you. And I've got news for you, sister - you're not the last pure human. Take a look around, I've still got my whole body _and_ my youth so I guess that makes _me _the last pure human."

Donna walked away, smirking at the expression on Cassandra's face. As she walked through the corridor, a group of those hooded creatures from earlier knocked her out, and dragged her away.

When Donna woke up, she found herself in the room she'd been in with the Doctor earlier. She got up and tried to open the door but it wouldn't move. It had been locked.

"Sun filter descending." The computer voice echoed throughout the room. Sun filter descending? _That can't be good,_ Donna thought in alarm, and slammed her fists against the door.

"Let me out!" She screamed, "Oi! I'll come back and kill you if I die right now! So you'd better let me out! Somebody let me out!"

Meanwhile, after an awkward conversation about what happened to his home planet and checking out the ventilation chamber, the Doctor and Jabe hurried through the corridor, but came to a halt when they heard a banging on a door nearby.

"Anyone in there?" He asked.

"Yes, you prune! Otherwise I wouldn't be banging like a total lunatic!" Donna shrieked.

"Oh, well it would be you!" The Doctor muttered as he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the controls in an attempt to stop the sun filter from descending.

"Hurry up or I'll be toast, _literally_!"

"Hold on, give us two ticks!" The Doctor yelled back at her.

"Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising." The computer declared, much to Donna and the Doctor's relief.

"You took your time didn't you?" She snapped, sitting on the floor and leaning her back against the door.

"Oh, talk about grateful!" The Doctor grumbled.

"Now open the door!" Donna demanded.

"I'm trying, it's stuck!" The Doctor said as he pointed the sonic screwdriver towards the locks, "Forget it. I'll be back, just don't go anywhere!"

"Where am I going to go exactly, Doctor? _Ipswich?" _Donna hissed.

"Earth death in five minutes." The computer voice announced. Leaving Donna trapped in that room, the Doctor marched back into the gallery and exposed the real trouble maker: Cassandra, who showed no shame for her actions.

"I bet you were the school swot, who never got kissed." She sneered, "At arms!" Instantly, the two men in the white suits pulled out the sprays they were moisturizing Cassandra with and pointed them at the guests and the Doctor. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"What are you going to do? Moisturize me?"

"With acid. Oh, and it's too late anyway, my spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them everywhere as gifts - tax free - past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it, how stupid is that?" The Doctor pointed out, but Cassandra didn't look at all concerned.

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been en_ormous." _The Doctor shook his head.

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

"Earth death in 3 minutes" The computer told them.

"And here it comes! You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? _Burn, baby, burn._"

"Then you'll burn with us!" Jabe cried.

"I don't think so. You see I'm a very bad girl, and even though I know teleportation is strictly forbidden... I've just never been good with rules. Spiders activate!" Cassandra commanded and all around the ship the hundreds of spiders self-destructed.

Cassandra grinned happily, "Force fields gone, with the planet about to explode, but at least it will be quick... like my fifth husband." Cassandra giggled at her own joke, "Oh shame on me! Well it was nice meeting you all. Bye, bye, my darlings!" And then Cassandra and her guards disappeared in a flash of light.

The guests instantly started to panic.

"Rest the computer!" The Moxx of Balloon demanded.

"Only the steward would know how." Jabe pointed out.

"No, we can do it by hand. Jabe, come with me and the rest of you just... chill!" The Doctor said before running out of the gallery with Jabe following hot on his heels. They headed straight towards the ventilation chamber, where two enormous fans spun in the middle of the room.

"Oho, guess where the switch is." The Doctor frowned. Jabe pulled down a lever and the fans stopped.

The Doctor glanced at her in alarm, "You can't, it'll overheat. Jabe you're made of wood!" Jabe looked at him gravely and smiled sadly.

"Stop wasting time, Time Lord."

The Doctor smiled back at her, before dodging the first fan and running underneath it. He looked back at Jabe who was getting hotter and hotter by the second, before he quickly jumped under the second fan.

The Doctor was suddenly stopped before he could run under the third fan by screams from behind him. He turned around, and saw Jabe's arm on fire. She had died to helped him, he thought sadly. Then he remembered he needed to cross the third fan and, with no one to hold down the lever, he was stuck. The Doctor took a deep breath, closed his eyes and stepped through the fan... and survived.

He ran over to the switch and quickly pulled it down.

Meanwhile, Donna sat alone in the room crying and sweating. If she died now, she'd never see her granddad again, never get to tell him about the Doctor. She'd never see her mother again, which wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world, but she wished she could tell her she loved her, despite her personality... and tell Lance that he needed to quit being such a coward.

"One." The computer said, and Donna closed her eyes, preparing to die... but nothing happened. Instead the computer spoke again, "Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair."

Donna smiled in relief, opened the doors, and walked back into the observation gallery where the Doctor stood talking to the two other trees that had arrived with Jabe. The Doctor turned around and smiled when he saw Donna. Donna threw her arms around him.

"Are you alright, space-boy?" She asked softly. He looked sad but she didn't comment on it. Instead he started rambling on about how he wass full of ideas, and then picked up the egg Cassandra had brought with her. He turned it around a bit, and suddenly Cassandra's laughter filled the room again as she reappeared.

"So. You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the err... the _human_ club." Donna folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Cut the crap Cassandra."

"People have died." The Doctor added, but Cassandra didn't look fazed.

"That depends on your definition of _people_. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."

"And creak?" Donna asked, amused.

"And what?" Cassandra looked alarmed as she realized what was happening, Moisturize me! Moisturize me!"

"Not a chance. You went and knocked me out then tried to kill me!" Donna spat angrily, "You can crumble to pieces for all I care."

"Everything has its time." The Doctor said when Cassandra looked at him for a little compassion. She screamed right before she exploded into little pieces. Donna cringed as a piece of Cassandra landed in her hair.

"Oh, that's just disgusting." The Doctor tried to suppress a laugh at Donna's expression but failed, resulting in another slap across the face, this time so hard it knocked him flat on the floor.

"_That_'s for laughing at me." The Doctor rolled his eyes, and picked himself up off the floor before walking towards the window. Donna joined him shortly afterwards.

"Earth's dead and we were so busy saving our own butts that we didn't see it happen." Donna said sadly. The Doctor took hold of her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"Let's go." Donna nodded, they found the TARDIS, and the Doctor took her back to Earth. They stood in the middle of the street, and watched millions of people pass them by.

"You think it'll last forever and then suddenly it's gone. Like _my_ planet." The Doctor sighed and Donna's head shot up. She looked at him, surprised - he was suddenly willing to talk about his home.

"What happened?"

"A war... and we lost."

"What about your people?"

"I'm the last of the Time Lords. Everyone else died. I'm the only one left, all alone."

"Don't feel so sorry for yourself. You're not alone anymore. You have me now." Donna smiled at him and he grinned back.

"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?"

Donna frowned and hesitated before speaking again, "I don't know what I want. But... I smell chips. I fancy some chips, how about you?"

The Doctor laughed, "Yeah. Okay then."

"Right then! Before we go nearly getting ourselves killed again, let's get some chips. And they're on you." Donna said as they walked along the street.

"I don't have any money." He confessed.

"What kind of a cheap date are you? Alright tight wad, they're on me today, but next time you're paying!" She told him, and they both started laughing as they walked into the chip shop.


	3. Cardiff, 1869

****

A/N : Thanks for the reviews! :).

* * *

After buying herself and the Doctor some chips, Donna decided she'd stay with the Doctor after all. Now she stood in the TARDIS, holding down a button as the Doctor had instucted her to do a little over ten minutes ago. She watched in amusement as he made a mad dash around the console room as the ship rocked about.

"Hold that one down!" He yelled, and Donna frowned at him.

"I'm holding this one down. Do I look like I have five pairs of arms?"

"Just do it genius!"

"Oi, don't get clever with me." Donna snapped, and stretched out her other arm to press down the second button, "This is hurting my flipping arm!"

"Hey, I promised you a time machine, and that's what you're getting! Imagine me doing this on my own all of the time before I met you... Anyway. You've been to the future, now let's take a look at the past."

"Alright, but don't take me to an era where there's a chance I could get eaten by a dinosaur or something." Donna told him, causing him to roll his eyes skywards. Donna Noble was really something else.

"How does 1860 sound?" He asked her.

"What's so interesting about 1860?"

"I don't know, let's just go see for ourselves, shall we?".

Donna sighed, and nodded before the Doctor pulled down on the lever. When the TARDIS came to a sudden halt, Donna (who wasn't used to travelling like this), went flying backwards into the rail. The Doctor had to put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Do you even know how to fly this thing? Do you even have a license?" Donna asked him as she picked herself up.

"Hey! I think I can fly my own ship, thanks." He grunted.

"Where did we land then?"

The Doctor moved towards the monitor, and started to grin like he always did when he was impressed with himself.

"Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860." Donnas' eyes widened in disbelief. Her granddad was going to have a field day when he found out what she'd been up to.

"We're in Naples, 1860, Christmas Eve! That's so weird!" She laughed, "But think about it. Christmas, 1860. It only happens once and then it's gone, finished. It will never happen again, except for you. You can just go back and see days that are gone and a thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you're always travelling about, never staying in one place."

The Doctor grinned at her, "Not a bad life,"

"Better with two." She smiled, and then quickly dashed towards the doors.

"Oi! You can't go out dressed like that!" The Doctor yelled, and Donna looked down at her blue t-shirt and jeans.

She glared at him, annoyed, "What's wrong with this outfit?"

"If you go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there: first left; second right; third on the left; go straight ahead; under the stairs; past the bins; it's the fifth door to your left. And don't take forever!"

A few minutes later, Donna returned to the console room dressed in a black corset, a dark pink skirt and a matching black cape. Her wavy auburn hair was pinned back and Donna looked pretty damn good, if she did say so herself. The Doctor looked up and stared at her, stunned for a moment.

Donna grinned, satisfied, "So what do you think?" She asked him.

"I'm shocked!" He admitted, "I didn't think anything could possibly make you look alright!"

Donna's eyes narrowed, and it took her barely two seconds to walk up to him and kicki him hard in the shins.

"Damn, you kick harder than you slap!" He groaned.

"Then maybe you'll keep your opinions to yourself next time!" She hissed. The Doctor gulped and nodded in agreement. And, he added silently, maybe arrange for her to take some anger management classes.

"Aren't you going to change, Mr. _You'll-start-a-riot?_"

The Doctor looked at her as if she'd just sprouted wrings, "I changed my jumper. Now come on!" He said, heading towards the doors. Just as he was about to open them, Donna butted him out of the way.

"No way, you've done this before. It's my turn now!" She declared as she stepped outside. She looked around at the busy streets - and something felt off.

"Doctor?" She turned and asked the man beside her, "This doesn't look like Naples to me."

"Erm... I may have got the co-ordinates a bit wrong." He told her. Donna frowned for a moment but started grinning again. She couldn't really care less what country they were in, she was too amazed by the fact that she, Donna Noble, was standing in the 19th century.

"I don't care" She replied to the Doctor, who was scratching the back of his ear nervously.

"It's not Naples."

"I don't care." Donna said again.

"It's Cardiff." He said, before picking up his pace as they walked along the street.

Donna snapped out of her daze and stared at him, "Cardiff?!" She caught up with him, immediately yelling that he really needed to get a handbook on how to fly his time machine. The Doctor was just about to tell her to shut up when they suddenly heard a lot of screams and yelling coming from the theatre in front of them.

The Doctor looked at Donna and grinned, with a cry of: "Now that's more like it!"

She picked up the bottom of her dress and ran after him into the theatre. When they got inside, their gazes immediately fell onto the blue gas that was floating around the half empty room.

"What the hell?" Donna muttered and stared at the gas.

"Fantastic!" The Doctor laughed, and walked up to a man with brown hair and a beard who was looking half furious, half frightened.

"Did you see where it came from?" He asked, and the man narrowed his eyes at the Doctor.

"Ah. The wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you are satisfied sir!" The Doctor looked at him, taken back. The fool thought _he _was responsible for it!

"Oi, you leave her alone!" Donna yelled at an old man and a dark haired woman in a maid's uniform, who were trying to drag an old woman's body across the floor. The woman was clearly asleep or unconscious, what the hell were they trying to do?

Donna looked at the Doctor, alarmed, "I'll go get them!"

"Be careful - and don't get into any fights!" Donna rolled her eyes at him before running out of the room.

"Did it say anything? Could it speak? I'm the Doctor, by the way." He said to the man - who was still looking at him as though he were a serial killer.

"Doctor, you look more like a navy." The man scoffed.

The Doctor looked down at his jumper, insulted, "What's wrong with this jumper?"

Meanwhile, Donna ran outside just in time to catch the bandits tossing the old woman's body into the back of a hearse.

"What do you think your doing?!" She yelled at them, and the dark haired girl looked at her sadly.

"Oh, it was such a tragedy, Miss." The maid told her in her welsh accent, "Don't worry yourself, me and my master will deal with it. The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with a brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary."

Donna, who did not buy any of it, touched the old woman's neck to check for a pulse, and looked at the woman, shocked.

"She's dead! What the hell did you do to her?"

The maid was about to say something, when her master came up from behind, stuffed a tissue into Donnas' mouth and knocked her out.

"What did you do that for?" The maid asked her master, horrified.

"She has seen too much, put her into the hearse and be quick!" The maid did as she was told, and pushed Donna's body into the hearse beside the old woman's. The Doctor, with the unknown man following him, made it out of the theatre in time to see the pair stuffing Donna's body into the back of the car.

"Donna!" Ye yelled, staring after it in panic.

"You are not escaping me, Sir!" The man said, irritated, "What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes to the heavens. He really did not have time for this, not when Donna's life was in danger, "Projection on glass I suppose? Who put you up to it?"

"Yeah mate, not now thanks." The Doctor replied distractedly. As the hearse turned the corner, the Doctor got into the carriage that was parked across the street, "Follow that hearse!" He demanded.

"You can't do that Sir!" The man cried from outside.

"Oh yeah, why not?"

"Why not? I'll tell you why not! This is my coach!"

"Well get in, then!" The Doctor snapped, pulling the man into the coach beside him.

"Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?" The coach driver asked. The Doctor's ears pricked up, and he looked at the man intensely. The man looked indignant.

"No it is not."

"Did he just say _Dickens_?" The man frowned at him as if he were insane. Not such a surprise considering he'd hijacked his coach, pretty much told him to buzz off and now was suddenly interested in him.

"Yes."

"As in _Charles_ Dickens?" The man looked at him, surprised.

"Shall I remove the gentleman, Sir?" The driver enquired.

"I am your biggest fan ever! I've read all of your books, they're fantastic! I especially loved that one with the ghosts… what's it called again?"

"_A Christmas Carol_?"

"No, the one with the trains… _that_'s it, _Signal Man_. It was terrifying! The best short story written!" The Doctor exclaimed with excitement, and could not believe he was sitting in the same carriage as the best author that ever was. Dickens' expression had changed considerably since the Doctor had run into him earlier. Now he looked extremely pleased with himself.

"Do you want him to leave?" The driver asked again, but Charles shook his head.

"No, I think he can stay." For the next few minutes, the Doctor rambled on about all the ways he was Charles Dickens' biggest admirer. At first, Charles had enjoyed it, but now it was starting to wear thin.

"Faster!" the Doctor suddenly shouted at the driver. Charles looked at him, slightly alarmed.

"Who is exactly in that hearse?"

"A friend of mine - when she isn't busy slapping and kicking me." The Doctor muttered, "She's barely thirty five, I was supposed to keep an eye on her, and now my life is in danger if we don't get to her in time."

Dickens looked at him, confused, "How exactly is _your_ life in danger here?"

"Trust me, if I don't save her then she'll come back and murder me. Probably slap me first though, and believe me, you do not want to be slapped by her!"

Charles didn't respond to that - instead he ordered his driver to hurry up, and finally the carriage stopped outside a large, old Victorian house.

Meanwhile, Donna opened her eyes, and found herself locked into a small white room while a dead body in a coffin lay on a table in front of her. Suddenly the corpse sat up, nearly giving Donna a heart attack. Her eyes widened with fear as the corpse leapt out of the coffin and started backing her towards a wall.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me." She muttered. What was it with things coming alive and trying to kill her?

The corpse smirked and walked closer to her. It was so gross, she didn't even want to contemplate that dead guy's hands all over her. Donna quickly ran to the door, grabbed ahold of the knob and pulled, but it wouldn't budge.

"Oi! Let me out!" She shrieked, "Let me out right now!" But it was too late - the dead man clasped his hand over her mouth, stopping her from screaming. At that exact moment, much to Donna's great relief, the Doctor kicked the door open.

"I think this is _my_ dance!" He said, grabbing Donna's hand and pulling her out of the corpse's reach. They quickly ran out of the room, and slammed the door shut in the zombie's face before locking it again.

"Is this a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence!" Dickens gasped, shocked.

"No, we're not. The dead are walking." Before Dickens's could speak again, the Doctor turned towards Donna, "Are you alright?"

"Slightly traumatized, but I'll get over it I suppose. What took you so long anyway, space-boy?" She replied, before glancing at Dickens, "And who's your friend?"

"That's Charles Dickens. And _those_ two are the reason I took so long." The Doctor told her, shooting pointed glances at the dark haired maid and her master.

"Charles Dickens? Oh, get real. And who are they anyway?" She asked staring at the pair, who wore guilty expressions on their faces.

"I'm Gwyneth, ma'am, and this is my master, Mr. Sneed" The maid told her. Donna shot Mr. Sneed a glare before the Doctor swung open the door again and faced the zombie, grinning.

"Hi there. I'm the Doctor, who are you and what do you want?"

"We're failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form we cannot sustain, please help us!" The Doctor was about to answer when the corpse raised it's head, blue gas floating out of the body, and then collapsed.

A few minutes later, the maid stood in the small kitchen making them all tea, while Donna started yelling at Mr. Sneed for kidnapping her.

"So let's get this straight. First of all you drug me, and then you kidnap me - and don't think that I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you filthy old pervert!" She hissed, and the old guy looked insulted.

"I will not be spoken to like this, young woman!" He barked, but Donna ignored him and continued to yell at him.

"Then you stuck me in a room with a bloomin' _zombie,_ for crying out loud! And if that isn't bad enough, you bugger off and leave me to die. So come on, you better 'fess up, or I can guarantee, mister, you will not live to see another day."

"I don't know why you are all blaming _me_ for this. It was not my fault!" Mr. Sneed snapped, "It's this house! It's always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back and then the stiffs..." Everyone glared at his choice of word, "...Er...I mean, _dearly departed_ started getting restless."

"Tommyrot." Dickens muttered.

"You witnessed it!" Sneed sneered, "Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing, that they hang onto scraps..."

Gwyneth chose that very moment to walk back in with the tea. She walked up to the Doctor and handed him a cup.

"Two sugars sir, just how you like it." She smiled politely. The Doctor frowned at her curiously, how could she know what he liked?

"One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to the performance just like she'd planned." Mr. Sneed said to Dickens, who rolled his eyes.

"Morbid fancy."

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Donna snapped, "You were there!"

"I saw nothing but an illusion." He said snottily. Donna was just about to lose her patience and yell at him when she remembered she'd started off just like him. She'd never believed her Granddad about aliens, and even when she'd seen the walking mannequins she'd told herself it wasn't real - but it had been. Instead, she held her tongue, for perhaps the first time ever in her life.

"If you're going to just deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up." The Doctor said grumpily. Donna looked at him, surprised - he'd just said what she'd wanted to say for her. Dickens looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead he fell silent as the Doctor turned to Sneed.

"What about the gas?"

"That's new, Sir. Haven't seen anything like it!" He replied.

"That means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." The Doctor muttered. Donna looked at him, confused.

"What the hell's a rift?"

"Not _a_ rift, Donna, _the_ rift." The Doctor corrected her, "It's a weak point in time and space. A connection to this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories most of the time."

"That's how I got the house so cheap!" Sneered blurted out, stunned. While Sneed proceeded to tell them about the stories that went back generations, Dickens took the opportunity to sneak out. After Sneed had finished, the Doctor went to look for him, while Donna joined Gwyneth in the kitchen. Donna felt sorry for the girl, so she grabbed some dishes and started washing up. After all, she did it all the time at home so she wasn't really all that bothered, but Gwyneth looked at her in alarm.

"Oh please, Miss, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right!"

Donna smiled at Gwyneth warmly, "Don't be so daft. Sneed works you to death." But Gwyneth took the cloth off of her, and began drying them herself anyway.

"How much do you get paid?" Donna enquired.

"Eight pounds a year, Miss."

"What?" Donna looked at her, mortified - but Gwyneth misinterpreted it as something else.

"I know, I would have been happy with six!" Donna had no idea what to say to that, so she changed the subject.

"Did you ever go to school or anything?"

"Of course I did." Gwyneth answered, surprised to be asked such a question, "What do you think I am, an urchin? I went every Sunday, nice and proper. We did _sums_ and everything! To be honest with you, I hated every second!"

Donna couldn't help but grin at her, "Yeah. Me too."

They laughed, before Gwyneth spoke again: "Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go, and ran on the heath all on my own!"

"I did loads of that. Me and my mate Nerys went to the shops, and we used to go and look at boys!" As soon as Donna said that, Gwyneth's smile faded.

"Well. I don't know much about that, Miss."

"Oh, come on." Donna said encouragingly, "I bet things haven't changed that much. I bet you've done the same... haven't you got your eye on someone?"

Gwyneth hesitated for a moment, before saying shyly: "I suppose there is this one lad. The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday, got such a nice smile on him."

"Oh, I like a nice smile. Nice smile, great bum." Gwyneth gasped in shock.

"Well, I never heard the like... I swear it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes, and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing!" Donna laughed.

"Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr. Sneed."

"Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me, to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."

Donna put a comforting hand on Gwyneth's arm, "I'm sorry."

"Thank you miss, but I know I'll see them again one day. Sitting with them in paradise. They're waiting for me. Maybe your father is waiting for you too, Miss." Donnas' eyes widened as she realized what Gwyneth had just said.

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"The Doctor." Gwyneth said quickly, but Donna wasn't fooled. She'd never told the Doctor about her father either so how did she know that?

"My dad died years back." Donna sighed, deciding not to question Gwyneth right now.

"And you're thinking about him more than ever."

"How do you know all of this?" Donna decided to ask.

"Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?" Donna shook her head.

"Definitely no servants were I come from."

"And you've come such a long way." Donna looked at her, alarmed now. Was Gwyneth psychic or something? "You're from London" She continued, now looking intensely into Donna's eyes. Something was definitely wrong, "I've seen London in the drawings, but never like that! All those people rushing about, half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky - they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People _flying_. And you - you've flown so far, further than anyone! The things you've seen... The darkness, the big bad wolf. Oh, I'm sorry Miss!" Gwyneth cried, snapping out of it, "I just can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl my mum said I had a sight and she told me to hide it!"

"But it's getting stronger, right?" The Doctor said, and Donna turned to see him stood in the doorway, staring at Gwyneth.

"Every night, sir, voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." He told her, and she looked slightly worried.

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts."

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

Gwyneth frowned at him, "What to do where, sir?"

"We're going to have a séance."

They all went into the living room, and everyone, including Dickens, sat around a table. Gwyneth did as the Doctor told her, and reached out to the 'spirits' that were apparently the cause of all the zombies. Through Gwyneth, the spirits - otherwise known as the gelth - spoke to the Doctor, and pleaded with him to help them by opening the rift... and then Gwyneth collapsed.

Now Donna sat on a stool beside the couch on which Gwyneth lay on, and mopped her forehead. Gwyneth woke up and asked about the spirits, and if they needed her, and the Doctor told her that they did - causing Donna to start yelling at him.

"Leave her alone. Can't you see she's too exhausted to fight your battles, Doctor?" Donna turned back to Gwyneth, and helped her drink some water while Sneed asked questions about the Gelth.

"They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff, but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."

"Which is why the need the girl." Dickens suddenly exclaimed.

Donna looked at him and the Doctor fiercely, "No way are they having her."

"But she can help! Living on the rift, she's become part of it - she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."

"Look, they cannot just roam about in dead people's bodies. It's not _right_." Donna said, glaring at him.

"Why not? It's just like recycling." Donna could barely believe what she was hearing.

"First off, that's gross and it's wrong. Seriously though, you cannot do this."

"Seriously though, I can!" He snapped at her, and she was about ten seconds away from getting up and slapping him, except Gwyneth needed her more.

"It's wrong. These are relatives of living people, how would they feel seeing their loved ones, but not their loved ones, waltzing around town? The people that these bodies belonged to deserve a little respect... but I get how you might not see that, since you're _alien._ Things might have been different on your planet."

The Doctor glared at her, annoyed, "Do you carry a donor card, Donna?" He asked her, ignoring her other comments.

"Yeah, but that's diff-"

"It's a different morality." He interrupted her, "Get used to it or go home." Donna looked at him, taken aback, and he spoke again, this time slightly softer, "I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."

"Whatever, but you still can't use her." Donna said firmly.

"Don't I get a say in this, miss?" Everyone looked at Gwyneth, who'd awoken properly now.

"Of course." Donna replied, a bit awkwardly.

"The angels have been singing to me since I was a child, sent to me by my mother. Tell me what I need to do." The Doctor grinned at her, and asked Mr. Sneed where the weakest part of the house was - that was where the Rift should be.

"The morgue." He replied and everyone followed, Donna reluctantly - she'd had just about enough of hanging around with dead people for one day. They walked into the morgue and saw a couple of what looked like people, made out of gas. The leader stood in the archway and begged for help. The Doctor accepted their plea, but made it clear it was only a temporary solution, until they found somewhere else to go.

Gwyneth stood under the archway and allowed them to connect with her, but to the Doctor's horror everything started to go very wrong. More and more Gelth started to pour out of Gwyneth's mouth until all of the bodies were filled up, and there weren't enough available for the rest of the Gelth. The leader under the arch suddenly became demonic, and still more Gelth came pouring out.

"You said you were few in number!" Dickens yelled.

"A few _billion -_ and all of us need corpses." It replied coldly.

"Gwyneth... stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child - leave these things alone, I beg of you!" Cried Mr. Sneed, but it was too late. One of the corpses grabbed him, while a Gelth entered his body through his mouth. His eyes looked up, and, to the Doctor's horror, he was clearly dead.

"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." He said, and Donna looked him in disbelief.

"Just a _little bit_? I Knew you should have listened to me!" She hissed angrily, as the Gelth surrounded them.

"I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come march with us!" Sneed said coldly as the number of Gelth multiplied.

"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!" The Doctor shouted, but she looked at him blankly.

"It's too much for me!" Dickens gasped, before running away like a coward, to Donnas' disgust. That left her and the Doctor to be killed by gas creatures.

"I trusted you!" The Doctor yelled angrily, "I pitied you!"

"We do not want your pity. We want this world and all its flesh!" They sneered.

"Not while I'm alive."

"Then live no more." They hissed, coming closer to the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor quickly grabbed Donna hand, and pulled her through a door that looked a bit like a prison cell. The Gelth grabbed ahold of the rails and started to shake them, while the Doctor and Donna went as far back as they could, ending up backed against the cold, damp dungeon wall.

"But... I can't die!" Donna cried, "My granddad, my mum, they don't know where I am. I'm not even in the right time, I haven't been _born_ yet! Please tell me it's not possible for me to die!"

The Doctor looked at her gravely, "I'm sorry" He sighed.

"But its 1869, how can I die now?"

"Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th. This is all my fault, I brought you here." Donna looked at him sadly, and smiled.

"It wasn't your fault, Doctor." She said softly, "Alright, so you might want to have listened when I warned you not to do this, but I _wanted_ to come with you. You warned me about how dangerous it all is - and I still came anyway, didn't I?"

"What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World war five! I pushed boxes at the Boston tea party, and now I'm going to die in a dungeon!"

The Doctor looked at Donna completely, horrified, "In Cardiff!"

"Well, at least we'll go down fighting, right?" She asked him, trying to be brave.

"Yeah." He agreed with a smile, "Together?"

"Of course. I'm _glad_ I came with you, Doctor. It's been…" Donna frowned, trying to think of a word to use, "Amazing."

The Doctor smiled at her, "Apart from the slapping, I agree!"

Grinning, they grasped each other's hands as the Gelth shook harder on the rails, and took a deep breath.

"Well this is it." teh Doctor whispered, "Donna Noble, good-"

"Doctor, turn off the flame! Turn up the gas! _Now_, fill the room, all of it, now!" Dickens yelled as he ran back in.

"What the hell are you doing?" Donna asked, bewildered by his sudden return. Dickens paused, gasping for breath as the Doctor turned the pipe in the dungeon. Instantly, Donna started to choke.

"Turn it all on!" Dickens said again, as he coughed into his handkerchief. The Doctor did as Dickens told him, and soon the entire dungeon was filled with gas. Donna and the Doctor ran out of the cell and realized they were going to have to blow the place up to get rid of all the Gelth.

"Dickens, take Donna outside. Donna, go. I'll be out in a minute." The Doctor ordered.

"What about Gwyneth?" She asked, concerned.

"Just go!" Donna did as she was told for once, and left with Dickens, while the Doctor approached Gwyneth.

"Gwyneth, send them back. They're not angels, they lied!"

"Liars" She whispered sadly, and the Doctor started to panic.

"Remember that world you saw? Donna's world? All those people... but none of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out!" The Doctor realized sadly that Gwyneth was dead.

"Thank you... and I'm so sorry" He said, planting a kiss on her forehead and handing her a box of matches. He looked at her one last time as she lit up a match, and then ran outside to join Donna and Dickens.

Donna watched in horror as the entire place blew up.

"Gwyneth! Do not tell me you just left her behind!" Donna yelled at the Doctor.

"I'm sorry, Donna. But she had already been dead for at least five minutes."

"That poor girl" Dickens said quietly. The three of them stood there for a while, just watching the house burn and remembering how brave the young servant girl had been in her last hours.

A few minutes later, the Doctor and Donna walked back to the TARDIS, with Dickens following on behind them. When they reached the blue box, the Doctor turned and looked at Dickens.

"Right then, Charlie boy! I've just got to go into my, er... shed. Won't be too long." He said, as he turned his key in the lock.

"What are you going to now then?" Donna asked Dickens, who rather enthusiastically began to tell her about the next book he planned to write - _The Mystery of Edwin Drood -_ before Donna gave him a peck on the cheek, causing him to blush. The Doctor and Donna said goodbye for the final time, and walked back into the TARDIS.

"Won't Dickens change history if he puts blue ghosts into his next book?" Donna asked the Doctor, referring to what Dickens told them about his plans.

"Nope, he'll never get chance to. Next week, the year turns to 1870 - and that's the year Charles Dickens dies. He will never get to tell his story." Donna looked at Dickens on the TARDIS monitor, and felt sad.

"Oh no, he was so nice."

"But in your time, he was already dead. We brought him back to life! He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise." The Doctor hit a button, bringing the engines to life, and they both watched with amusement at the expression on Dickens' face as the TARDIS dematerialized.

When that was over, Donna turned around, and slapped the Doctor hard across the cheek.

"What, are you going to do this at the end of every trip?" He asked casually, and Donna smiled happily.

"_That_ was for not listening to me earlier, and nearly getting me killed by gas creatures of all things!"

The Doctor shrugged, "I'm sorry, you were right I was wrong. But in the future, _no more slapping!_" they both laughed but then Donna suddenly paused.

"Oh, I completely forgot. D'you think you could take me home to see my family? They'll probably be wondering why the hell I'm not home yet." The Doctor finished rubbing his cheek, and walked over to the other side of the console panel.

"Fine - But I have three rules! One: No more slapping. Two: No domestics. I don't do domestics, got it? And Three: We don't go anywhere near that pathetic lump that you call a boyfriend."

Donna rolled her eyes, but then agreed with a small smile.

"Okay then. Off we go!" He said, pulling down on the lever and typing in the co-ordinates.


	4. Back home & the Slitheens pt1

**A/N : Thanks for the nice reviews and don't worry my story will get more intereasting soon :). **

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After getting changed out of the Victorian dress and into the clothes she was wearing when she'd first joined the Doctor, Donna entered the console room, feeling a bit nervous. How long had it been since she'd left? Was her granddad alright?. The Doctor smiled at her as she came towards him. "Ready?" he asked her and she nodded. The Doctor parked the Tardis on the corner of the street of where her house was located. They walked down the path and Donna stopped when they reached number 23.

"How long has it been?" she asked him anxiously.

"Don't worry, only twelve hours". She glared at him. She'd gone and told her granddad she'd be back in time for tea!

"I told my granddad I'd be back in time for tea! That is what a flipping time machine's for isn't it?" she snapped at him.

The Doctor gulped but she didn't do anything. She just sighed, rolled her eyes and walked up to her front door, pulled out her key and unlocked it, then walked straight in. The Doctor stood outside humming before something caught his eye. He walked over to the nearby lamp post and looked at the flyer that was stuck on it. His eyes widened at the photo of Donna with her red hair pulled back into a pony tail. In big bold letters were the words DONNA NOBLE MISSING with details about when the last time they'd heard from her was. Donna closed the door behind her as she walked in and heard the sound of the TV coming from the living room. Her granddad will just love to hear all her stories, she thought happily, opening the door. She smiled as she saw him sat in his armchair, dressed in his navy blue dressing gown and slippers, watching the news. Beside him sat her mother, who looked considerably older since the last time she'd seen her. Maybe she had a cold or something. "Hi, I'm back!" she announced and they both turned and looked at her as if they'd seen a ghost."What?" Her granddads eyes suddenly filled with tears and he got up and hugged her tightly.

"Your home, Donna!"Then to Donnas' surprise her mother got in on the hug and starting sobbing.

"I thought I'd never see you again". Just as Donna was about to ask what was wrong with them, the Doctor came up from behind her.

"Sorry it's not twelve hours, it's err….more like twelve months. You've been gone a whole year". Donna let go of her mother and of her granddad and glared at him.

"Learn to bloody drive your ship!" she hissed furiously.

After that, Wilfred and Sylvia called the cops about their 'missing' relative. The police came round within a few minutes and now the Doctor and Donna were being questioned about where she'd been for the past year with Sylvia accusing the Doctor of kidnapping her every five minutes. "One second she tells me she'll be back in time for dinner over the phone and then after that nobody can get in touch with her, she didn't ring us once and she just disappeared" Wilf told the police office."I thought she'd been abducted by aliens!" Donna had to suppress a laugh when he said that. The Doctor looked completely serious though like always.

"I've just been travelling" Donna sighed.

"Oh yeah right" Sylvia scoffed. If her mum didn't believe this, it wasn't very likely she was going to believe she'd been travelling about time and space with a centuries old alien.

"But I have!" she insisted. "And what you just forgot to phone for an entire year?" Sylvia said in disbelief.

"Actually it's my fault" the Doctor said suddenly and everyone looked up at him from where they were sitting in the Nobles living room."I sort of employed Donna as my companion".

"When you say companion is this a sexual relationship?" the cop asked causing the Doctor and Donna to start laughing hysterically at the same time.

"Err…gross. As if I'd sleep with someone who looked like him!" Donna laughed and the Doctor's grin turned into a frown.

"Oi, my ears could use a little work but I'm not that bad". Donna rolled her eyes at him and then Sylvia stood up, obviously distressed.

"What have you been doing with my daughter then? Hm? How old are you anyway? Forty, forty five?. You've got to be least ten years older than Donna. Did you find her online and pretend you're a Doctor?".

"But I am a Doctor!" he told Sylvia who still didn't look convinced.

"Prove it. Stitch this mate" she snapped before slapping him harder than anything Donna had ever done to him. He fell backwards, knocking a pile of magazines and flyers off the coffee table on his way down . "You're bloody clumsy too".

"Mum!" Donna gasped. "He was telling the truth!".

"Whatever you say" she sighed and sank back down on the sofa while Wilfred got up and walked into the kitchen. Donna followed him. He stood at the sink looking out of the window into the backyard with a sad look on his face.

"While you with that Doctor man doing whatever it was you were doing, did you ever think of me at all Donna?". Donna wrapped her arms around him and gave the old man a hug.

"Of course I did all the time. Everything I saw reminded me of you and made me miss you" she replied honestly, tears filling her eyes.

"I've been worried sick. You could have phoned at least once just to let us know you were okay. Sylvia's been out of her mind". Donna felt a pang of guilt and started sobbing. "Sweetheart, just tell me where you were. I'll believe you darling and I won't tell Sylvia if you don't want me too". Donna wiped the tears from her face and began telling Wilfred how and where she me the Doctor and where she'd been for the last year. After she had finished Wilfred look stunned before smiling and hugging her again."I told you they were real didn't I Donna? Now you've been and seen them. You been to the stars, I'm so proud of you sweetheart".

After Wilfred let go and the police man had left, the Doctor and Donna sat on the street corner near her house. "I can't tell mum, she'd never believe me anyway. I can't believe we missed a whole year thanks to your dodgy driving. Just tell me, was the year any good?" Donna asked him.

"Oi, I do not drive dodgy, I just drove a little too far….the year was alright".

"You are sooo useless"

"Well since it's so much trouble, would you like to stay here from now on?" Donna immediately shook her head.

"No way, I love travelling with you. I could do it forever and besides, now you've meet my mum, do you really think I'd like to be stuck here with her for the rest of my life?" The Doctor grinned at her.

"Good point and now I know where you learnt to slap so hard"

"Yeah it's genetic. I can't believe she hit you, the look on your face, you should of seen it" Donna giggled.

"900 years of time and space and I've never been slapped by anybody's mother!" Donna raised an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously, your 900 years old?"

"Yep"

"Bloody hell; how you survived that long with all the things you do is a complete mystery to me" Donna replied as she jumped off the wall."Okay any conversation with you just goes mental. I can't talk to anybody about this really apart from my granddad. He's an absolute firm believer in all things alien but other than that, I'm the only human on this planet who knows they exist!". Just as she finished her sentence, a dark shadow flew over their heads and they looked up to see a giant UFO, go speeding by. Donnas' smile faded. "That is just not fair!" The Doctor laughed, jumped off the wall, grabbed her hand and they ran down the street and towards the direction the ship was heading towards.

They eventually arrived in the middle of a crowded road with the British military blocking the way so nobody could get through to the Doctor's great disappointment. But from what they could see, the ship had clearly crashed into big Ben. "It's blocked off" he said to Donna as if she hadn't already noticed.

"We're miles from the centre. The scene must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down!" The Doctor looked at Donna and another one of his cheesy grins lit up his face.

"I know I can't believe I'm here to see this, this is just fantastic!" he said as if he was at a rock concert.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" she asked him.

"Nope!"

"Do you recognize the ship?"

"Nope!"

"Do you know why it crashed?" Again his answer was nope."Oh fat lot of good you are" she muttered."I am so glad I met you"

"Oh I bet you are. See this is why I travel see history happening, right in front of us!"

"Well let's go and see it space-boy! Never mind the traffic, we have the Tardis" Donna pointed out but he shook his head to her surprise.

"Better not. In an emergency like this, all kinds of people will be watching and we don't want to thrust another space ship on top of another. The Tardis stays were it is"

"Oh then why don't we just go back to my house and watch in on the TV?" Donna suggested and the Doctor glanced at her as if the idea had never occurred to him, which it probably hadn't. After ten minute walk back to the Noble's house, the Doctor found himself sat next to Donna on her coach watching the news reporter explained what everybody had already seen and what the police had said, which wasn't much until the reported mentioned something about a body causing the Doctor to stand up and attemp to sneak out of the house unnoticed. After all he was the Doctor and he needed to see what this body was for himself but unfortunately Donna caught him walking down the path and towards the gate. "Where do you think your going?" she demanded.

"Nowhere, just wanted a breath of fresh air" he lied quit blatantly and Donna wasn't fooled.

"Yeah, right. There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just going for a quick walk. If you're going to lie, then at least tell a good one".

"It's got nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, color of smoke, everything! It's perfect! ". Donna raised an eyebrow. "So...?" "So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've GOT to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" he replied with all the enthusiasm of a five year old at Disneyland." You don't need me - go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum"

"Spend time with my mum he says. I'd rather set my head on fire. Fine, I'll go talk to my granddad but just promise me you won't bugger off" Donna said looking serious and the Doctor pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

"Tell you what, heres a key to the tardis. It's about time you had one, see you later" he said after he handed her a key on a chain. Donna beamed happily and watched the Doctor walk off into the distance before going back inside the house. Meanwhile, the Doctor turned the corner and walked right into the Tardis and as the ship faded from sight, Lance, who was walking down the street at the same time, saw it and ran towards it. "Doctor!" he yelled but it was too late, the Tardis had disappeared and Lance ran right into a brick wall and fell backwards onto his bum.

The Tardis reappeared in Albion hospital where the Doctor discovered the 'alien body'. It was a pig and it was running around the building wildly while the woman in charge of examining the body, Dr Sato so the Doctor noticed from her I.D tag, sat on the floor in tears. "It's alive, my god it's still alive!" she gasped before the Doctor started to ask her some questions about the pig. Suddenly there was a squeak and the pig appeared from the shadows.

"Hello" the Doctor grinned at it before a group of soldiers marched in and pointed their guns at it."Don't shoot!" he yelled before the soldiers shoot it in the neck. It fell down onto the floor, lifeless. The Doctor looked at them horrified."What did you do that for? It was scared!" The Doctor crouched down beside the pig and stroked it."It was scared". The soldiers moved the pig's body and placed it on a table. When they had gone, the Doctor started asking some more questions and they ended up realizing that the pig was just a hoax. The real aliens were still out there.

Back at Donna's house, Wilfred, Donna and Sylvia sat in the living room. Wilfred raised his glass of lemonade into the air and grinned. "Here's to the Martians for finally showing themselves!" Donna grinned back at him and clinked her glass against his. Suddenly the doorbell rang and as Sylvia went to open it, Donna took another sip of her lemonade.

"Donna you're back" a familiar voice said from behind her and she looked behind her to see Lance standing at the doorway. Her mother brushed past him awkwardly and sat back down in the armchair she was on before getting the door.

"I think somebody owes him an apology" Wilfred commented and Donna suddenly felt bad for leaving him the way she had. "I'm really sorry Lance"

"Not you sweetheart" her granddad said softly and then looking at Sylvia.

"Well what the hell was I suppose to think? "She snapped before getting up again and walking off into the kitchen.

"You run away with that man and then that old bat point the finger at me. I got taken in for questioning five times! . There was never any evidence though – how could there be?. But she goes around spreading lies about me and then I start getting stuff through my letter box. I should of told her where you really went" he hissed. Donna looked at him in alarm.

"Tell me what?" Sylvia asked from the kitchen. Donna glared at Lance threateningly.

"Don't you dare Lance or I swear I will slap you" Lance gulped and backed off.

"Nothing" he lied. Sylvia raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Anyway that boyfriend of yours has upped and left you so we won't have any problems like this ever again" Lance told her and Donna jumped to her feet.

"First of all genius he's not my boyfriend, not even my type or my species, that's just yuck!. And what the hell do you mean he upped and left?"

"He disappeared in that box of his without you!" Lance smirked before Donna shoved him out of the way and made her way outside into the cold. She ran around the street corner and to where the Tardis had been parked earlier but Lance was right and nothing was there.

"Oh I'm going to kill that space-man if I ever see him again!" she muttered.

"See? He's vamoosed!" Lance said smugly coming up behind her along with Sylvia.

"What are you two going on about?" she demanded.

"He hasn't left me, look he gave me this you idiot" Donna snapped and showed him the key that was hanging off the chain around her neck. At that exact moment the key began to glow in a yellow light and the Tardis reappeared in its original spot. Donna grinned at them. "I told you so". Lance folded his arms and looked a moody five year old.

"How the hell did he do that?" Sylvia gawped. Donna ignored them and ran straight into the tardis, the two of them following straight on behind her. From the console panel, the Doctor looked up from what he was doing and looked up at her.

"Okay so I lied and had a look but the whole crash was too perfect – I mean 'hitting big Ben' come on. So I thought let's go have a look and-".

"My mums here" Donna said smirking.

"Oh that's just brilliant" he said glaring at Lance and Sylvia."Don't you dare make this place domestic!"

"Oh don't be so touchy" Donna muttered.

"You ruined my life Doctor!" Lance said angrily."They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you!"

The Doctor looked at Donna irritated. "See what I mean? Domestic"

"I bet you don't even remember my name!" Lance yelled.

"Clance?" Lance looked at him in disbelief.

"Who the hell is named Clance? Is that even a word? F.I.Y its Lance" Donna rolled her eyes at him. Lance never could take a joke. Sylvia looked around the ship with a bewildered expression before gasping and running back out. Donna, knowing her mother well enough to know that she'd probably go tell the whole world about what she saw, followed her out.

"Mum don't!" but it was no use her mother was already running half way down the street and Donna couldn't even be bothered chasing after her. So instead she sighed and walked back in where Lance was still glaring at the Doctor.

"So was it a real spaceship?" she asked, deciding to ignore Lance's presence.

"Yep"

"So is it just a pack of lies or are aliens really invading? "

" I don't know, we'll just have to found out for ourselves" he told her.

"Well what are we waiting around for? Let's go!" Donna said and the three of them walked out of the ship, only to find themselves surrounded by soldiers' and helicopters. To Donna's annoyance, Lance ran away immediately and hid behind a dumpster.

"DO NOT MOVE. RAISE YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST". Donna immediately raised her hands in the air and shot the Doctor a murderous look.

"Take me to your leader!" the Doctor called out and waved his hands in the air. What a moron, Donna couldn't help but think. A few minutes later, Donna found herself sat next to the Doctor in the back of a police car. She had never been in trouble with the law until she had met him and if she ended up being chucked into a cell with a man called Bertie she was going to kill him.

"I cannot believe we're being arrested" she said out loud.

"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted" the Doctor told her, grinning.

"Where to?" Donna asked him, confused.

"10 Downing Street!" he said gleefully

"You're joking!"

"I'm really not"

"10 Downing street? What do they want with us?" Donna asked, recovering from her shock.

"Think about it. On the news they said they were gathering alien experts from around the world and who's the biggest expert of them all?" Donna frowned.

"Patrick Moore?" the Doctor looked offended.

"Apart from him"

"Oh you just love it!" she laughed.

"I'm telling you - Lloyd George he used to drink me under the table. Whose the prime minister now?" Donna looked at him blankly.

"How am I suppose to know?" The car came to a sudden halt and the pair looked out of the window and realized with excitement that they were right outside 10 Downing Street. Next time Sylvia called Donna a disappointment, she so planned on throwing this in her face. Two policemen escorted them to the front doors and when they walked into the foyer, all they could see was a load of military and men and women in suits. It differently seemed to be important.

"Ladies and gentlemen" a man stood in the centre of the room suddenly spoke."Could we convene? Quickly as we can please. Can I please remind you all ID cards are to be worn at all times". Then the man walked up to the Doctor and handed him one."Here's your I.D card. I'm sorry your companion doesn't have clearance".

"Then what the hell was the point in me coming?" she snapped.

"I don't go anywhere without her" the Doctor added fondly.

"You're the code nine. Not her" he explained. Donna glared at the man threateningly .

"Miss, I don't even have clearance to go in that room. I can't let you in and that's a fact"

"Whatever, have a good time in there without me space-boy" she sighed. The Doctor shrugged at her apologetically and began to wander off before a woman in a light pink suit, ran towards them.

"Excuse me are you the Doctor?!" she asked, barely stopping for breath. The Doctor turned and looked at her.

"Not now we're busy" the man snapped at her annoyed.

"Please I just need a word" she begged and Donna could see the desperation in her eyes.

"You haven't got clearance now leave it!" he said and then grabbed Donnas' arm tightly."I'm going to have to leave you with security"

"Oi, get off me or I'll have you for assault!" she hissed and before she could slap the man, the woman in pink intervened and pulled Donna from the man's grasp.

"It'll be alright, let me look after her. I want to be of some use. Come on, walk with me"Donna didn't need telling twice and followed the woman down a hallway. "Harriet Jones" she said to Donna, pulling out and then flashing her I.D card."M.P for Flydale North. ". Harriet looked at Donna obviously very distressed about something. Donna felt a surge of pity for the woman that nobody seemed to want to listen too. "That friend of yours. He's an expert, knows all about aliens?"

"He more than knows. Why, what's wrong?" Donna asked her softly and Harriet started to burst into tears. Donna pulled the poor woman into a hug before Harriet lead Donna into an empty cabinet room and showed Donna the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen in her life. A man that had been made into some sort of body suit."They turned the body into a suit!" Harriet gasped, confirming Donna's suspicions."A disguise for the thing inside!"

"It's alright, I believe you. It's alien. They must have some sort of fancy technology, I guess if we could find it, we could use it" Donna told her and headed to a metal cupboard. She opened the doors and her eyes widened with shock when she saw the prime ministers body drop out. "Is that the blooming prime minster?!" she shrieked before the doors opened and the very annoying man from earlier stormed in.

"For goodness sake Harriet I told you – "he stopped and noticed the prime ministers body on the floor."Oh my god, that's the prime minister!"

Meanwhile, the Doctor stood in the conference room, talking to the alien experts when it hit him. This whole thing was a trap. Then Joseph, the man filling in for the prime minster and the military leader stood up and started to snigger. They reached for their foreheads and to the Doctor's horror, unzipped themselves out of some sort of human body suit. "We are the Slitheen" they said coldly. "Thank you all for remembering to wear your I.D cards" Joseph said laughing."They'll help to identify the bodies!" Then he pressed down on a button he held in his green claws and everybody including the Doctor fell down onto the floor in pain as their own I.D cards electrocuted them.

Back in the cabinet room, Margaret, head of M15, walked in and smirked when she saw Donna, Harriet and the man, whose name they had just learnt was Indra, standing there. "This is impossible, the prime minister left this afternoon!" he said pointing to the body. Margaret's' smile grew broader.

"And guess who told you that?". Donna paled when the woman unzipped her forehead and a green creature climbed out of the human skin before one big green claw reached for Indra.


	5. Back home & the Slitheens pt 2

**A/N : Thanks for the reviews. I know I must of been crazy to update at 2 o clock this morning but I wanted to do that so I could update again now and get the two parter over and done with. **

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The Doctor ripped off his I.D card from around his neck and stuck it into the big, green, creature standing before him. Instantly they started to shake and scream as it electrocuted them instead. The Doctor looked around and to his horror, realized everybody except him were dead. He ran out of the room while the Slitheen struggled to get themselves together. The Doctor ran out of 10 Downing Street and called out to the security."Oi! You want aliens – you've got them. They're inside Downing street, come on!". The men immediately followed him back inside and back into the conference room where the Slitheen were back in their human outfits as Joseph and Asquith.

"Where have you been?" Joseph demanded angrily from the security."I called for help! I sounded the alarm…there was this lightening um electricity and they all collapsed!". The police sergeant stepped forward and looked down at the dead people in shock.

"I think they're all dead!" he exclaimed.

"That's what I'm saying. He did it, that man there!" Joseph said, pointing at the Doctor.

"I think you will find that the prime minister is an alien in disguise" he said with his arms folded. Everyone looked at him blankly. "That's never going to work is it?"

"No" the sergeant replied, unimpressed.

"Fair enough" the Doctor said before legging it out of there. He ran down the hallway with the security hot on his trail. Where the hell was Donna? Was she okay?. All he knew was that if she wasn't he was one dead alien. Suddenly the security seemed to have doubled and they all gathered around him, backing him against a wall with their guns pointed at his head. Asquith pushed his way through to the front of the small crowd.

"Under the jurisdiction of the emergency protocols, I authorize you to execute this man!" he ordered and they all pressed their fingers against the triggers of their guns.

"Um…well...Now...Yes. You see…eh…..the thing is….If I was you, If I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, then between you and me, a little word of advice…" The Doctor told them and the lift behind him slid open. "Don't stand them against the lift!" he grinned.

Meanwhile on the upstairs corridor, Donna and Harriet were running for their lives away from Margaret, the green monster. "Where is that blooming man when you need him?" she muttered before a lift pinged open and the said man walked out. Margaret, choose that moment to appear out of nowhere.

"Hello" he greeted merrily. Donna shot daggers at the Doctor before running down the corridor after Harriet, leaving him to distract the alien.

"Donna, in here!" Harriet hissed and Donna quickly joined her in an empty room with a fancy coach and antiques. "Hide" Donna didn't need telling twice and she slipped behind a curtain while Harriet hide behind the coach. Seconds later, the door creaked open and Margaret the Slitheen entered, her big red lips stretched into a cold smile.

"Oh such fun, little human children! Where are you? Sweet little humeykins let me kiss you better". Fat chance of that happening, Donna thought to herself, disgusted."Kiss you with my big green lips". Donna felt like throwing up when an image of that slimy, green, bitch forcing herself on her suddenly flashed through her mind. Then the door opened once again and in walked Joseph and Asquith both out of their disguises. "My brothers" Margaret purred fondly.

"Happy hunting?" Joseph asked.

"It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink!". Donna glared from behind the curtain. She was one to talk, she never stopped farting!.

"Sweat and fear" Asquith growled.

"I can smell an old girl….stale bird….brittle bones..." Joseph said sniffing around. "And a ripe young woman…….not fresh but juicy enough to squeeze the life out of" Donna did not appreciate being called juicy; she was not a bloody piece of fruit. Suddenly Margaret flung open the curtain, nearly giving Donna a heart attack and Harriet jumped out from behind the coach.

"No take me first take me!" she cried and Donna had to give her credit for bravery. Then once again the door opened but this time it was a welcomed face. The Doctor ran in with a fire extinguisher and quickly glanced over at a startled Donna.

"Out with me!" he yelled as he sprayed it into the faces of the Slitheen. Donna and Harriet quickly followed the Doctor out of the room."Who the hell are you?" he asked Harriet as they ran down the hallway.

"Harriet Jones – MP for Flydale north"

"Nice to meet you"

"Likewise" she replied as he blasted the fire extinguisher again. The Doctor quickly unlocked the locked cabinet room door with his sonic screwdriver and it flung open. He stood aside and allowed Donna and Harriet Jones to go in first before grabbing a bottle of brandy and turning back to the doorway to face the Slitheen.

"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Woof, we all go up so back off!" he warned them, pointing his screwdriver threateningly at the bottle. The Slitheen did as he said."Right question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens" Harriet pointed out and Donna had to suppress a snigger.

"Yeah I can see that thanks"

"Who are you if not human?" Joseph the Slitheen croaked.

"Who's not human?" Harriet frowned.

"He's not" Donna said, rolling her eyes.

"He's not human?"

"I just said that didn't, I?" Donna barked and the Doctor glared at her.

"Can I have a bit of hush?"

"Who are you hushing space-boy?" she snapped.

"Donna, just do as I say for once" he ordered and she finally fell silent."So what's the plan?

"But he has a northern accent!" Harriet spoke, once again interrupting the Doctor who was starting to get really irritated.

"According to space-boy all planets have a north" Donna told her.

"Shut up!" he commanded and the women hushed up for real."So you've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of the government – what for? Invasion?"

"Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?" scoffed Asquith snottily.

"Then what brought the Siltheen race here?" the Doctor asked causing the three green aliens to snigger.

"Slitheen race? Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname!. It's a family business" Joseph informed him.

"So you're out to make a profit? How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock'?" The Slitheen eyed the brandy suspiciously.

"Ah, excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability..?" Asquith said, staring at the Doctor. The Doctor frowned at him.

"Is that what I said?"

"You're making it up" Asquith hissed. Harriet looked at Donna in alarm.

"Ah, well nice try. Harriet, have a drink, I think your going to need it" the Doctor told her handing her the brandy. Harriet took one look at Donnas' panicked expression and shook her head.

"Pass it to the left first"

"Sorry" the Doctor apologized handing the drink to Donna who snatched it from him an drank it as though it was tap water.

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter!" Margaret smirked.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago this was a marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room – If the cabinets in session and in danger, these are about the four safest walls in the whole of Great Britain" Donna and Harriet looked at the Doctor as he flicked a switch."End of lesion". Metal shutters suddenly blocked every entrance and window in that room. The Doctor turned and grinned at the pair. "Installed in inches of steel lining in every single wall. They'll never get out. Donna, are you sure you should be drinking _all _of that?" Donna put down the brandy and glared at him.

"Okay genius; tell me, how do we get out?"

"Ah" he said his grin fading.

"Oh that poor man" Harriet said suddenly and there all noticed Indra's body lying dead on the floor beside the prime ministers'.

"What was his name?" the Doctor asked her as they put the bodies in the cupboard.

"I don't remember" she confessed."I just got him coffee and talked to him but I can't really remember what he said his name was"

"I'm sorry. Right so what have we got? Terminals?, Anything? " Donna shook her head.

"No this place is antique. But, Doctor, the thing is, after they killed the prime minister, why didn't they use him as a body? as disgusting as it is to even contemplate"

"He's too slim – they're big old beats, they need big humans to fit inside" he explained.

"They're about eight feet tall – how do they squeeze inside?"

"The device around their needs is a compression field – literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a bit exchange".

"Urgh that's disgusting!" Donna exclaimed with disgust."Although if I had a compression field I could fit a size smaller without going on a diet, now that would be handy". Harriet looked at Donna stunned.

"People are dead. This is not the time for making Jokes" she said sternly.

"Sorry when your friends with him this stuff just comes naturally"

"Well that's a strange friendship" Harriet said frowning.

"Wait a minute, Harriet Jones? Where have I heard that name before? You're not famous for anything are you?" the Doctor asked her and she smiled for the first time since they'd met.

"Hardly"

"Rings a bell Harriet Jones…."

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid and a fat lot of use I'm being now – the protocols are redundant – they list a group of people who can help and they all are dead downstairs" Harriet told them from where she was sat looking through a red folder.

"Wait doesn't it have like defense codes or something? We could just launch a nuclear attack at them and blow them right up!" Donna said rather enthusiastically causing Harriet to look at her alarmed.

"You're a very violent woman aren't you?"

"You're telling me" the Doctor muttered."She gives one hell of a slap".

"Shut it alien" Donna snapped.

"Now is not the time for arguing!" Harriet interrupted."Anyway, there are no defense codes or anything like that in here. Nuclear strikes need a release code yes but unfortunately it's kept by the United Nations and the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN. And unfortunately the codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the them"

"So what is it the Slitheen want then exactly?" Donna asked the Doctor, changing subject.

"Well since it's just one family it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen world so they're out to make a profit which means that want to use something, something here on Earth, a kind of asset"

"Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet suggested.

"You're very good at this" the Doctor praised and Harriet blushed."Harriet Jones, how do I know that name?". All of a sudden, Donnas' mobile started beeping, nearly giving her a heart attack for the second or third time that day.

"Wait there's no signal. How is it beeping?" Harriet inquired.

"Oh the Doctor did a bit of jiggery pokery. It's Lance" Donna said looking at the Doctor. The Doctor rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Lance did have to text Donna at a time like this didn't he? Typical stupid ape, the Doctor thought but refrained from saying it out loud and risking a slap from Donna.

"Oh just tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy" he growled. Donna glared at him even though she didn't exactly disagree with him.

"Look at this. He isn't so stupid after all" she said and handed the Doctor the mobile.

"Don't be so sure" he muttered and looked at the phone's screen which had a photo of a slitheen in the kitchen at the Noble's house.

"Give that back to me" Donna demanded grabbing the phone back off the Doctor and thumping in Lance's phone number. "Hi lance, describe the alien to me. The one in the picture you just sent".

"Oh so now you need me?" he moaned.

"Oh just do it!" she cried impatiently. Honestly, Lance could be so annoying in emergencies or just in general.

"Well for starters it was all stinky and wet and stuff. More importantly it tried to kill me!"

"What about us?!" yelled Sylvia through the speaker phone that Lance had now put them on.

"We could have all died!" added Wilfred"Bloody aliens!"

"Okay everybody just calm down. Granddad, mum, are you alright?"

"I think we're okay" Wilfred said before Sylvia could open her mouth and complain. Then to Donna's great annoyance the Doctor snatched the phone back off her.

"Lance this might be a bit much for your tiny brain to process but shut up quit whining and go to your computer"

"Oi, why should I?" he snapped.

"Okay I might just choke on this sentence but Lance the entire fate of this world lies in your stupid little hands and I need your help okay?". Donna smirked at the Doctor's awkwardness. "Are you at your computer now?"

"Yes. What do you need me to do?". The Doctor took a seat at the conference table in the cabinet room and gave Lance the address of the UNIT website. "It says password" he said once he was on it.

"Buffalo – two f's – one l"

"What's that website?" the Doctor heard Sylvia ask Lance in the background.

"Oh it's top secret. These guys have known about aliens for years, they've just kept us in the dark" Lance explained.

"Lance you were born in the dark" the Doctor retorted and Donna shot him an evil glare. Lance was trying his best to actually help and the Doctor just kept on being rude.

"Password again" Lance said ignoring the Doctor's comment.

"The same and just repeat it". While Lance was doing that, the Doctor looked across the room at Harriet Jones. "Big Ben – why would the Slitheen crash into big Ben of all the things to crash into?". Donna, who was starting to feel rather bored, slumped down in her seat and gulped down another mouthful of Brandy.

"And the Slitheen were hiding – and then they put the entire planet on red alert. What the hell would they want to do that for?" Donna pointed out. Suddenly a voice started speaking through Donna's phone which was now placed in the centre of the conference table on speaker phone.

"Excuse me I have a question for the Doctor" Wilfred piped up."I can see what kind of life that man lives just from today. I was attacked in my own living room by an eight foot, green, slimy creature and it scared the living hell of me. Now I know you're the bravest girl I know Donna and you can fend for yourself but Doctor can you promise me one thing? Can you promise my Donna will always be safe? More importantly, will you always be able to protect her?". The Doctor couldn't promise any such thing and he wasn't going to lie to the man who loved his granddaughter so much.

"I'm sorry but can't". Before Wilfred could reply Lance's voice echoed down the line.

"We're in"

"Right then – on the left – there's a tab – an icon – little concentric circles – click on that"

"What is it?"

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North sea and it's transmitting that signal, now hush, everybody, especially you Donna, I need to work out what it's saying" Donna shot daggers at him but stayed quiet. "It's some sort of message but I can't work out what it's saying. It's on a loop". Suddenly for some reason Lance hung up the phone. The Doctor frowned and tried again but it was no use, the line was dead.

"What's happened?" Donna shrieked."My mum, my granddad!" the Doctor noted she didn't mention Lance.

"I don't know Donna!" he yelled.

"But you're the expert, you should know what to do!" Harriet piped up.

"I'm trying!"

"My mum, my granddad!" Donna repeated as if it would make a difference saying it a second time.

"Right if we're going to find out their weakness, we need to find out where they're from, which planet. So judging by their face and shape that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them?" the Doctor babbled , reminding Donna of her high school science teacher.

"They're green!" she blurted out.

"No, you don't say!" he snapped. Donna glared at him dangerously.

"I'm trying here space-boy!"

"Well it narrows it down at least" he admitted.

"Well they can smell pretty well"

"Okay that narrows it down"

"They can smell adrenaline!" Donna cried excitedly as more ideas started coming to her.

"That narrows it down!"

"The compression technology" Harriet suggested.

"Yep, narrows it down"

"The spaceship in the Thames – you said slipstream engine?" Donna asked him. He grinned at her.

"Narrows it down"

"Oh they hunt like it's a ritual!"

"Yeah that-"

"Let me guess, narrows it down?" Donna said cutting him off. He glanced at her slightly annoyed and was about to reply when Harriet started talking.

"Wait a minute! Did you notice when they fart – if you'll pardon the word – it doesn't just smell like a fart – if you'll pardon the word – it's something else, what is it?"

"Bad breath?" Donna asked her.

"That's it!" she cried out joyfully.

"Calcium decay now that narrows it down!" the Doctor beamed.

"Finally" Donna muttered.

"Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, what else, what else – hyphenated sodium – yes! And that narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorious!"

"Oh well that's all fine and dandy but what about my family!" Donna hissed.

"Try them again" he told her and she tried her mother's mobile this time instead of the home phone.

"Oh my god Donna this police man unzipped his forehead and turned into this giant green monster and now he's after us. What do we do Donna? What do we do? We're all going to die!" Sylvia Noble cried down the phone line. Donna looked at the Doctor panicked and he snatched her phone from her.

"Get into the kitchen!". Sylvia, as much as she didn't trust the Doctor man, did as she was told and was followed by Wilfred and Lance.

"He's going to rip us all to shreds!" Sylvia shrieked.

"Calcium recombined with compression field – ascetic acid. Vinegar!" he told Sylvia."Have you got any vinegar?".

"Of course we do, dad loves his chips and we always have to have vinegar or he-"

"Just get the vinegar!" he said cutting her off for her own sake.

"He's getting in, the alien is getting in!" he heard Wilfred yell in the background.

"Sylvia let him in and then chuck the vinegar on him. And also use pickled onions or gherkins, whatever you have! Just do it!" at that very moment, the kitchen door broke down and the Slitheen entered. Sylvia quickly grabbed the two jars of vinegar and gherkins and threw it on the Slitheen. The Slitheen stopped in it's tracks before promptly exploding all over Sylvia, Wilfred and a scared Lance. "Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes" Sylvia said gasping. A couple of minutes later, Wilfred flicked on the tv to see Joseph the Slitheen back in his disguise talking to the public about how a nuclear strike is their only option and that planet Earth is at war.

"What a load of bull-"Wilfred started to say but was cut off by Donna who was on speaker phone.

"Granddad what's going on?" she asked.

"Have you heard this? Listen?" He held the phone next to the tv and Donna, Harriet and the Doctor listened to Joseph give his speech.

"He's making it all up" the Doctor confirmed Wilfred's suspicions.

"But will they believe him?" Harriet asked, worry furrowing her brow.

"Well most humans being stupid-"

"Oi!" Donna cut him off before the Doctor could finish his sentence."What he means to say is that the humans believed him last time so they more than likely will now"

"The Slitheen, want a spectacle. They want the world to panic because when you lot get scared, you lash out" the Doctor told them grimly."They release the defense codes and you go nuclear"

"But why?" Harriet asked, looking distraught. The Doctor didn't answer her; instead he walked to the doors, pressed the switch and opened the metal shutters again coming face to face with Margaret who was grinning like a Cheshire cat and her brothers.

"You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing out there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back, World War Three – the whole planet gets nuked". Donna paled and Harriet looked horrified.

"And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away" Margaret told them smugly.

"But you'll destroy this beautiful planet, what for?" Harriet asked her alarmed.

"Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space – an advert" the Doctor said coldly.

"Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, and then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel"

"At the cost of only five billion lives" Donna said in a hushed tone.

"You have a choice Slitheen. Leave this planet or I'll stop you" he said calmly.

"What you trapped in your little box?" she laughed.

"Yes me" he replied coolly before closing the shutters.

"Okay so if we ferment the porch we could make ascertic acid" Harriet said to Donna when the shutters had closed.

"If we could just get out of here" Donna muttered frustrated.

"There is a way out, theres always been a way out" the Doctor sighed.

"Then why don't we use it?" Donna asked confused by the strange look on the Doctor's face.

"Because it could mean we all die and if we don't do it then everyone else will die too". Donna rolled her eyes at him.

"Well I think the whole world is worth more than our three misely little lives" Donna told him."Wouldn't you agree Harriet?".

"Absolutely and besides Doctor this isn't you're decision anymore, it's mine. I command you to do it on behalf of this planet". The Doctor grinned at her and picked up the phone.

"What now?" Lance whined.

"Quit being such a baby" Donna snapped.

"I agree with Donna. For once. Now go back to your computer and follow my instructions" the Doctor commanded and Lance did as he was told."Right now use the buffalo password and override everything. Select a missile and-".

"What are you crazy?" Lance hissed.

"No just trying to save the world. Select a missile, just an ordinary one will do".

"There's sub haffoon, UGMA4A".

"That's the one, now select. Lance, the entire world is in your hands. Goodbye" the Doctor said and hung up. Donna, the Doctor and Harriet all looked at each other silently/

"How solid are these walls?" Harriet spoke, breaking the silence.

"Not solid enough, built for short range attack but nothing this big" the Doctor said gravely. Donna grinned as an idea came to her.

"I am not dying like this, today. I have so many things I need to do and see and I haven't even gotten started. Okay so I use to get bored on Saturday nights and occasionally, when there was nothing else on the TV, I'd end up finding myself watching national geographic and-".

"Get to the point we don't have forever!" the Doctor barked irritably. Donna shot him yet another glare but knew he was right so didn't bother saying anything back. For once.

"Well anyway, you know what they say about Earthquakes, you can survive them by standing under a doorframe? Well that cupboard may look small but it's certainly strong. Let's ride it out!". The Doctor flashed Donna a smile as she opened the door. Harriet slipped in first, then Donna followed by the Doctor. They pushed the prime ministers' and Indras' body out and sat down on the floor before shutting the door.

"Well nice knowing you both" Harriet smiled; crouching on the Doctor's left with Donna on his right. They all grabbed hold of each others hands and gripped them tight. Two minutes later, the cupboard went spinning about and the three of them went flying about in the small cupboard uncomfortably until finally, to Donna's relief, the whole thing ended. Harriet Jones flung the door open and stepped out first followed by Donna and the Doctor. "Made in Britain" she declared before a sergeant came running over to her, ignoring the Doctor and Donnas presence. He asked if she was alright and then walked away. The three of them looked at all the chaos happening around them. In front of them were a few TV crews, police cars and a gathering crowd. "Someone has got a hell of a job sorting this mess out. Oh lord we haven't even got a prime minister!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Maybe you should have a go" the Doctor suggested and Harriet laughed.

"Me? I'm only a back bencher".

"I'd vote for you" Donna told her seriously.

"Now don't be silly! Look I'd better go and see if they need help anyway" she told them before waltzing off towards the TV crew, police and the huge crowd."Hang on! The Earth is safe! Sergeant!" The Doctor looked at Donna and grinned.

"I knew I knew that name! Harriet Jones – future prime minister. Elected for three successive terms – the architect of Britain's golden age". Donna smiled and they walked away, leaving Harriet to talk to the TV crew and police. A few hours later, Donna had packed a couple of bags and was now standing next to the Tardis saying her goodbyes to her mother, granddad and Lance. Donna decided they could at least stay friends but nothing more.

"Donna I'm really going to miss you and if he turns out to be a rubbish boyfriend, I'll be waiting alright?". For a moment there, Donna thought he was joking but he was completely serious.

"Boyfriend? he wishes, yuck, why would I even be attracted to him nevermind date him?" she scoffed.

"Well he's like the alien Indiana Jones isn't he?"

"Lance that is an insult to Indiana Jones. I don't fancy the Doctor but I don't fancy you either so it's even" she told him and he started to pout like a little kid, reminding Donna that she simply couldn't stand him anymore. And his accusation of her and the Doctor being more than travelling buddies? disgusting. After all anyone who fancied him would have to be nuts, blind, both, have tragic taste in men and species or be extremely unappealing themselves. After giving Lance a quick hug she moved onto her mum and grandad.

"Bye mum, bye granddad" she said giving them both hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

"Now don't you go forgetting us when you're flying around space, fighting aliens" Wilfred smiled.

"Granddad I'll never forget you. And don't start talking like we'll never see each other again. I promise I'll come home for visits"

"Is that a promise?" he asked her looking at her seriously.

"Of course I love you. Bye mum, take care of granddad for me" she said to her mother giving her a hug.

"Bye Donna, I love you" Sylvia replied stiffly. After everything she still found it hard to believe in aliens and that Donna was going off to see the stars. She was worst than Donna had ever been. Donna give them one last hug and a smile before walking into the box, leaving behind her family to go on more adventures with the mysterious alien and his spaceship.


	6. The last remaining dalek

** A/N : Thank you for everyone whose taken the time to review my story, it's really motivating especially since it's hard gathering up the energy to update quickly considering the length of these chapters :). Also I'm editing these myself again for the moment so any mistakes made are my fault, not the betas!.**

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Donna, dressed in black pants and a white blouse with her auburn curls tied back into a pony, walked into the console room with a huge smile on her face."So where are we now space-boy?". The Doctor grinned at her and gestured to the doors.

"Let's find out, shall we? Oh and Donna, I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me space-boy, I'm over nine hundred years old". Donna looked back at him as she walked towards the doors.

"Sorry old habits die hard!". The Doctor rolled his eyes and followed her out of the ship. He frowned and stilled as he took in his surroundings. "What's wrong?"

"We're on Earth, Utah, North America, of all places. We're underground. Why did the Tardis bring us here?" Donna looked at him and shrugged.

"What year?"

"2012"

"That's so close. I should be about forty one"

"You're thirty five?" the Doctor asked raising an eyebrow. Donna shot him a threatening glare.

"Yes I am. Why'd you ask?"

"No reason" he said quickly and decided to change subject. "We're in some kind of alien museum" he added wandering towards some glass cases with some unusual artifacts inside."Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship". The Doctor pointed at what looked like a metal Frisbee but Donna was too bust gawping at a giant green arm.

"That's an arm of a Slitheen! It's been stuffed!"

"Aw, look at you" the Doctor said quietly looking at a head of a cyberman enclosed in a glass case.

"What is it?" Donna asked coming up beside him.

"An old friend of mine….well when I say friend I mean enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old"

"Mate your over nine hundred years old and your only just realizing that now?" Donna smirked. The Doctor rolled his eyes to ceiling, Donna could never be serious for very long."Anyway earlier you said a signal was drawing us here. Is that where it came from?"

"Nah it's stone dead. The signal's alive, someone is reaching out, calling for help" he said in a hushed tone before pressing a finger against the glass case setting off a ton of alarms. Five minutes later, they were both surrounded by security guards pointing guns at them.

"Well if somebody is collecting aliens, space-boy, that makes you exhibit A" Donna pointed out, all too rightly before the guards, and a ginger woman in a black suit, escorted them out of the exhibit, down a hallway and into a small office where a balding man with a dark moustache sat behind a desk talking to a very handsome, if Donna did say so herself, young man holding out some sort of alien artifact.

"What Does it do?" the man asked, snatching the thing from the younger man's hands.

"Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, maybe fuel…." He replied in a British accent to Donnas' surprise.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that" the Doctor told them.

"Shut it" the ginger woman snapped.

"Oi don't tell my friend to shut it lady" Donna hissed right back.

"Really though that's wrong" the Doctor exclaimed ignoring Donna.

"Is it dangerous?" the young man asked.

"No it just looks silly. Here give it me" he said, holding out a hand. The man behind the desk raised an eyebrow and handed the object to the Doctor who proceeded to wave his fingers over the artifact causing it to make a soft humming sound like a harmonica.

"It's a musical instrument" the man from behind the desk said as if nobody had already realized. "Here let me" the man snatched it back and attempted to play it but the instrument started screeching.

"My ears!" Donna whispered to the Doctor.

"Gently" the Doctor told him and as he did so, the instrument calm down and started to play more softly again. "That's it. Quite the expert"

"As are you" the man commented. "So who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor and you?" the Doctor asked.

"Like you don't know" he scoffed arrogantly and Donna raised an eyebrow."We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world and you just happened to stumble in by mistake"

"Pretty much yeah" the Doctor replied nonchalantly.

"The question Is how did you get in? 53 floors down with your little cat burglar accomplice. Quite a collector yourself, she's rather attractive". Donna looked at him furiously and the Doctor couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. He had no idea what he was about to get himself into.

"She is going to slap you stupid if you keep calling her she!" she hissed angrily.

"She's English too. Hey little lord Fauntleroy – got you a girlfriend" he smirked, not fazed by Donna in the least." Mind you, she is like twice your age". Donna stepped forwards but the guards lifted their guns so she stopped.

"This is Henry Van Statten" the young man said, clearly embarrassed by his boss's lack of manners.

"Whose he when he's at home?" Donna asked.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet" he told her causing her to roll her eyes.

"Don't be daft, no one owns the internet"

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said smugly.

"So you're an expert on just about anything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand you lock up" the Doctor said staring at hard at Van Statten.

"And you claim greater knowledge?"

"I don't need to make claims I know how good I am"

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the cage. What were you doing down there?"

"You tell me"

"The cage contains my one living specimen" Van Statten explained.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"Like you don't know"

"He wouldn't be asking if he already knew, you moron" Donna muttered.

"Show me" the Doctor continued ignoring Donna as always.

"You want to see it? Goddard – inform the cage, we're going down". The ginger woman apparently named Goddard, nodded and walked out of the room.

"Adam look after the woman. Canoodle or spoon, whatever it is you British do. And you Doctor with no name….come with me". The Doctor nodded and followed Van Statten into the lift. They walked down a long corridor before Van Statten stopped outside a door, typed in a code and the door open. The Doctor walked in and Van Statten closed the door on him, leaving him alone in the dark with whatever was waiting.

"Look I'm sorry about this" he said to the creature, not knowing what it was, only being able to see a bright blue light."Mr. Van Statten might think he's clever but never mind him I've come to help. I'm the Doctor".

"Doc-tor" a cold robotic voice croaked and the Doctor's entire body froze.

"Impossible!"

"THE Doctor?" it demanded before the lights came on confirming the Doctor's suspicions and fears of what the creature was. Stood in front of him looking quite rusty but nevertheless like it's species, was a dalek. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!". The Doctor suddenly terrified, started to bang on the door. But nobody opened it. Damn it, that Mr. Van Statten must be getting some entertainment out of this, the Doctor thought annoyed.

"Let me out!" he yelled. Still the door didn't open.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" the dalek repeated itself."You are the enemy of the daleks, you must be destroyed!" but when it moved its gun, nothing came out of it. It just moved around helplessly. The Doctor suddenly broke out into a grin.

"It's not working! Fantastic, oh fantastic! Powerless, look at you! . The great space dustbin. How does it feel?" he asked and lunged towards the dalek merrily.

"Keep back!" it demanded but the Doctor ignored it and they went on to have a conversation about what happened in the time war. The dalek discovered it was the last of its kind, just like the Doctor. All of this time it had been waiting pointlessly for orders that would never come. Then a few minutes later, Van Statten waltzed in and demanded that it talked to him. He ordered the security to remove the Doctor from the room and then ordered his worker Simmons to do whatever it took to get the dalek to talk again before walking out. Meanwhile, Donna learnt that the young man's name was Adam and Adam showed Donna around his workshop.

"Sorry about the mess. Mr. Van Statten just sort of lets me do my own thing as long as I deliver the goods" he explained. Donna smiled. He seemed like a nice kid but then again so had Lance when she'd met him.

"Back home my rooms a mess and my mother's always nagging me to clean it up. Guess that's not the same really though is it?" she said trying to bond with him but failing. How could she possibly talk to a guy at least thirteen years younger than herself? She thought as she picked up a metal object and examined it. "What is this?" she asked him.

"It's from a hull of a spaceship or something like that" he smiled, sitting down on a stool."You do know it's all true. Everything the UN tries to keep quiet – space crafts – aliens – visitors to Earth – they really exist!" Donna could barely suppress a grin.

"Wow, I did not know that, that is just like incredible!" she gawped mockingly before he started to go on about life on other planets and how his job is the closet he's ever going to get to seeing the stars.

"What about people who've actually been up there in spaceships?" Donna asked him.

"I don't buy any of that, I think they're nuts!" he laughed.

"Yeah me too" Donna agreed but was secretly amused.

"When I was eight I logged onto a UN defense system and nearly caused world war three!" Adam told her looking a bit smug.

"And that's funny is it?"

"Well you should have been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!" he grinned.

"You sound like the Doctor"

"Are you and him?" Donna threw him a strange look as soon as he'd said that. Why did everybody always assume they were a couple? It was starting to really get on her nerves. It was like accusing you of dating your older, much, much, much, much older brother. Just so completely wrong and inappropriate.

"Definitely not. For starters he isn't even my type"

"Oh? And what is your type?"

"Well I guess I'm mostly attracted to dark haired men" Adam smiled and felt his own dark hair."Around my own age" she added."And they have to be good looking, muscular, won't interrupt me when I'm talking, won't cheat on me , isn't whiny or clingy and a bit of charm never harmed anybody"

"I think what you're looking for is a calendar!" Adam joked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I think your right about that. The way my love life has been going I don't think I'll ever find Mr. Right" she sighed. "Anyway" Donna changed subject."Wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean you've got a load of metal and stuff but Mr. Van Statten has a living creature down there!"

"Yeah well I did ask but Mr. Van Statten keeps it to himself. Although – if you're a genius – it doesn't take long to patch into the comms system"

"Come on then let's have a look" she laugh and Adam typed something in on the computer that was on the desk he was sat at. Donna moved next to him and took a look at the monitor.

"That's weird. It's look a big rusty pepper pot" he commented.

"It's being tortured!" Donna gasped, horrified. "Where's space-boy when you need him? Take me down there right this instance!" While Donna marched off towards the tortured dalek, the Doctor had been locked up in his own dark room, shackled to a rack and they'd removed his shirt.

"Smile" Van Statten grinned at him through some glass. The Doctor grimaced as they did a scan over his ribcage which revealed his two hearts. Van Statten suddenly got a greedy sparkel in his eyes and the Doctor and him starting arguing about the museum and the dalek Van Statten kept prisoner in the basement.

Adam flashed his ID card at one of the guards who let him and Donna pass and they entered the room that held the dalek. Donna felt a rush of compassion flood through her as she walked towards the 'poor' thing.

"Don't get too close" Adam warned her. She slowly crept up towards the pitiful creature.

"Hello" she said smiling weakly. "Are you in pain? I'm Donna, Donna Noble and I'm friends with a guy named the Doctor who I'm sure will be only to happy to help you"

"Yes I am in pain" it croaked sadly."The tortured me but they still fear me. Do you fear me?"

"Of course not"

"I am dying. My race is dead. I shall die alone". Donna felt tears prick in the back of her eyes for this poor mechanical creature. She walked closer to it.

"Donna, no!" Adam cried but it was too late. Donna touched it with her hand and the dalek came alive.

"Genetic material extrapolated – initiate cellular reconstruction!" the dalek shrieked and to Donnas' alarm sparks started to fly from it just as Simmons re-entered the room.

"What the hell have you done?" he yelled as he walked towards the dalek which held it's sucker out at him. He smirked, unimpressed. "What are you going to do? Suck me death?!" ironically, the dalek did exactly that to Donna and Adams horror and they ran as quickly as they could out of there.

"What the heck have I just done? space-boy will kill me!" she cried as they ran.

"Condition red! Repeat condition red! This is not a drill!" they heard a security guy shout in the distance.

Back in his prison, the Doctor glared at a panicked Van Statten from where he was chained. "Release me if you want to live" he said wearily. Within ten minutes, the Doctor was fully dressed again and stood with Van Statten and Goddard in a lift. The lift opened and they walked into a large office that had a monitor on the wall that linked back to the lobby where the dalek was about to enter.

"You have got to keep it in that cell" the Doctor ordered the security guard. With the security guard, were Donna, who wore a guilty expression and Adam who looked frightened.

"Doctor, this was all my fault" she confessed miserably.

"I've sealed the compartment, it can't get out, that locks got a million combinations" the guard said confidently.

"The dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat" the Doctor told the guard grimly who immediately picked up his gun and aimed it at the door with Adam and Donna standing beside him. Donna was slightly frightened but Adam clearly petrified. Sure enough, the door opened and the dalek came gliding through.

"Open fire!" the guard yelled.

"No, don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!" Van Statten shrieked. From the camera, Donna shot him a glare.

"Oh of course that's the most important thing isn't it? It doesn't matter if we die or not, just as long as the precious dalek doesn't get harmed!" she snapped angrily.

"Donna get out of there!" the Doctor ordered, worried about his friend's welfare.

"De Maggio" the guard said the woman guard beside him."Take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job got that?" De Maggio nodded and turned to Donna and Adam with a serious expression on her face.

"You with me" Donna and Adam immediately walked off with the woman leaving the guard behind to deal with the dalek. Back in the office, Goddard sat a computer typing manically, her face paling dramatically.

"We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh my God, its raiding entire power supplies for the whole of Utah!" she exclaimed horrified.

"It's downloading" the Doctor said plainly.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked clearly bewildered.

"Sir the entire West Coast has gone down" Goddard informed her boss, looking grave.

"It's not just energy. That dalek just absorbed the whole internet, it knows everything" the Doctor told them frowning at the computer. Goddard then told them the cameras had gone down and the Doctor realized it had eaten everything. But when he warned Van Statten that he needed to kill it right now, Van Statten ignored him, his arrogance really starting to annoy the Doctor. Meanwhile downstairs, Donna and Adam ran behind De Maggio and past another team of security guards who were knelt on the ground with their guns at the ready.

"Civilians let them through!" she ordered and they nodded.

"Cover the north wall : Red division maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter, blue division hold!" the guard from earlier shouted down the corridor before the dalek came up from behind and exterminated him. The team of security guards instantly leapt to their feet and started shooting but the dalek killed them all in less then five seconds.

"Tell them to stop shooting it!" Van Statten yelled at Goddard, who glared at him fiercely.

"It's killing them!"

"They're dispensable" Van Statten said coldly."That dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its body work? Do you hear me? Do you hear?" he screamed down the intercom but no one answered. They were all dead; Goddard looked at him disgusted before showing the Doctor a map of the building on the computer screen which also showed them where everybody was.

"That's us right below the surface – that's the cage and that's the dalek" she said pointing to a blue light moving along a corridor.

"So this museum of yours – have you got any weapons?" the Doctor asked her.

"Lots of them but the trouble is the dalek's between us and them"

"No, we need to keep that thing alive! We could just seal the entire vault and keep it trapped down there" Van Statten interrupted. The Doctor could feel his temper boiling gradually by every second he was in this man's presence. Did he not even have a little scrap of humanity?. The Doctor was an alien and it seemed even he had a lot more than the human stood in front of him.

"What leave everybody down there trapped with it? Donna is down there and I know she can be a big pain the butt most of the time and she enjoys slapping me more than anything else in the universe but she's my friend and I won't allow her or any of the other people down there to die" Van Statten and the Doctor stood glaring at each other before the Doctor came up with a plan to get everybody downstairs and shoot the dalek. Goddard nodded and left the room to gather the weapons to give out to everybody. Meanwhile, Donna found herself stopping in front of a flight of stairs and grinned.

"Stairs! That thing is legless so it couldn't possibly get us from up there! C'mon!" she yelled at De Maggio and Adam who followed her right up. The dalek entered and ,just as they suspected, halted when it came in front of the stairs. Adam started jeering at it, which Donna found a little pathetic and made her change her mind about him, and De Maggio began to try to negotiate with it. However it just sat there staring at them.

"El-ev-ate" it croaked and Donnas' eyes widened as the dalek began to hover.

"Oh my god! It's bloody flying!" she shrieked.

"Adam, get her out of here" De Maggio ordered.

"You can't stop it!" Donna reminded her.

"Somebody's got to try" she answered, looking rather determined. Donna looked at her sadly. What a brave woman she thought as Adam grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up the stairs. As they ran into a corridor, they heard a scream and then nothing. Donna and Adam picked up their pace.

"I thought you were suppose to be the great expert Doctor" Van Statten scoffed as they watched what was happening through the monitor."If you're so impressive then why not reason with this dalek? It must be willing to negotiate – there must be something that it needs, everything needs something"

"Where's the nearest town?" the Doctor asked him in a quiet voice.

"Salt lake city"

"Population?"

" One million"

"All dead. If the dalek gets out it'll murder every living creature that's all it needs". Van Statten looked at him outraged. "Why would it do that?"

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate racial cleansing and you, Van Statten let it loose!" he told him angrily before turning towards the intercom to talk to the soldiers and went on to tell them about the dalek's weak spot and what the dalek can do.

"Thank you Doctor but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot!" the commander scoffed ignorantly. The Doctor really hated most of the people who worked here; they all thought they knew it all. Goddard was the only one who had listened to him at all. Below them, Donna and Adam halted outside a door as the dalek came into the view. For a moment Donna could have sworn the thing had looked directly at her but Adam pulled her away before she could be certain.

"The dalek was staring at me"

"Donna don't be daft it was staring at everyone now let's go!" Adam said impatiently.

"Maybe your right but I was so sure…." As she said that the dalek moved forwards and the men started to shoot to no avail. The dalek hovered into the middle of the room and looked straight at the camera that was linked to the monitor back in Van Statten's office.

"It wants us to see it" the Doctor muttered as the dalek floated into the air and shot it's ray at a fire alarm causing the room to fill with rain. It started shooting again and all of the men dropped dead almost instantly.

"Okay perhaps it's time for a new strategy" Van Statten said looking horrified."Maybe we should just abandon this place". Goddard glared at him, fuming.

"Except there's no power to the helipad sir. We can't get out" she said through gritted teeth.

"You said you could seal the vault" the Doctor pointed out. Van Statten then went on to offer to help bypass the security codes and close the bulkheads to their suprise but his reason for doing it was because he didn't want to die which didn't come as such a suprise to the Doctor. This man was the most selfish person he'd ever come across all through time and space and that was really saying something. Suddenly the dalek popped up on the monitor demanding to speak to the Doctor. Once they'd started talking, the Doctor discovered the dalek had finally realized it was all alone in the universe. No one left. But it didn't mean that the dalek was going to quit killing people now.

"You would make a good dalek" was the last thing it said before the Doctor told them to seal the vaults and the screen went blank. Van Statten immediately got to work, typing manically on his computer.

"I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I've had to work this hard!" he exclaimed, sounding slightly excited.

"Are you enjoying this?" the Doctor asked him, incredulous.

"Doctor – your friends still down there" Goddard reminded him and he immediately grabbed the phone that was hung on the wall and dialed in Donnas' number that he had learnt off by heart in case of emergencies like these.

"Doctor this isn't exactly the best time for a chat" Donna told him as her and Adam ran up another flight of stairs.

"Where are you?" he asked concerned.

"Level 49. And I'll tell you something though, if I do get killed by that piece of junk, I will come back and slap you so hard, you'll wish you'd never been born and that is a promise space-boy"

"Donna instead of yelling at me, keep moving. You have to keep moving okay? The vault is being sealed off , bulkhead 46"

"Can't you keep them from closing?" she asked, slightly panicked stricken. Adam was a much better runner than she was and was ahead by quite a bit. Donna was red in the face from all the running, she just couldn't keep up.

"I'm the one whose closing them, I can't wait or help you so for god's sake run!" the Doctor cried down the line. Donna picked up her pace and caught up a little bit with Adam. They ran up some more stairs with the dalek hot on their heels. As they turned a corner Donna felt her entire body slow down.

"We're nearly there, give us two seconds, please" she panted.

"Doctor I can't sustain the power, the whole system's failing" Van Statten told the Doctor, seriously."Doctor you have got to close the bulkheads". The Doctor gulped and pressed the enter key.

"I'm sorry Donna" he told her quietly and watched the computer screen intensely as the two little dots which marked Donna and Adams positions ran towards the gradually closing door. Adam leapt and rolled through it but Donna just missed it by a second.

"The vault is sealed" Van Statten announced.

"Donna did you make it?" he asked worried.

"Damn it space-boy this was not how I wanted to die" she snapped."No I did not make it" The Doctor felt a rush of sadness. Donna Noble had been an extremely good companion despite all her slapping; he'd hoped more than anything that she'd made it and it was his all his fault. She was his companion and it had been his responsibility to look after her. Her granddad was waiting at home for her, what would he tell him?

"Don't worry, Doctor, it wasn't your fault, it was Van Stattens, but I wouldn't of missed all of this for anything. At least now I'll die a hero, kind of" she laughed lightly."Bye then". Donna turned around to face the approaching dalek. In the office, the Doctor heard the dalek yell exterminate and then the line went dead. The Doctor hung up the phone and shot Van Statten a furious look.

"It was my responsibility to protect her. She was only here because I asked her to come and I could have killed that dalek in it's cell but you stopped me" he hissed.

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten replied lamely.

"Your collection? Well was it worth Donna and all of your men's lives?. Let me tell you something Van Statten. Man kind goes into space to explore. To be a part of something greater" the Doctor said, hatred burning in his eyes.

"Exactly I wanted to touch the stars!" Van Statten said enthusiastically.

"You just wanted to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt and label them. Well you're about as far from the stars as you can possibly get" the Doctor spat, full of rage. Back in the corridor, Donna took a deep breath, waiting for the pain to strike her dead but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and realized the dalek had missed it's shot.

"Just kill me will you, you big piece of space crap" she sneered." You wouldn't want to waste time now"

"I feel your fear" it croaked.

"Well what do you expect sunshine? Do you think I should jump up and down with joy as I wait for my impending death?"

"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear. You gave me life, what else have you given me? I am contaminated!" it screeched hysterically. The Doctor spun around in the office as the lift slid open and Adam entered the room.

"You were quick on you're feet leaving Donna behind" he said angrily.

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" he replied, indignant. Suddenly the monitor flashed back to life and showed Donna stood beside the dalek, still very much alive to the Doctor's surprise and relief.

"Open the bulkhead or Donna Noble shall die" the dalek demanded.

"Your still alive!" the Doctor exclaimed. Donna grinned at him weakly.

"Haven't got rid of me yet space-boy"

"Open the bulkhead!" it demanded once again.

"I can't let her die again" the Doctor sighed and pressed the enter button on the computer. The bulkhead re-opened and the dalek glided through followed by Donna.

"Well what do we do now?" Van Statten asked panicking.

"Kill it when it gets here" Adam replied simply.

"All the guns are useless and the alien weapons are in the vault" Goddard told him but he smirked.

"Only the catalogued ones". At that Van Statten raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. A few minutes later the Doctor followed Adam down to his workshop where they had a conversation and the Doctor found out he was equally as iritating as Donna's ex-boyfriend Lance.

Donna stood in the plain white lift next to the dalek, feeling more than a little nervous. Maybe it was a mistake for the Doctor to have re-opened the bulkhead and let the dalek through but it was too late to do anything now as the lift doors opened and they stepped into Van Statten's big fancy office. He gulped at the sight of the dalek and Donna could not see the Doctor or Adam anywhere in sight. Although Adam she wasn't so bothered about, she decided she didn't like him afterall, he was a good for nothing little weasel.

"Van Statten you tortured me, why?" the dalek asked as it backed Van Statten into a wall. Van Statten looked at it horrified before insisting he was only trying to help it.

"Ext-er-min-ate!" it barked and pointed it's gun at him.

"Don't do it, don't kill him!" Donna pleaded, not wanting to witness another death. "You don't have to do this anymore. There has got to be something else – what do you want?"

"Freedom" it replied instantly. Donna nodded and escorted it back into the lift and down into the basement as it had requested.

"See that wasn't so hard was it? I never thought I'd see the sunlight again" she smiled, relieved.

"How….does…it….feel?" the dalek asked, sounding weak.

"Really good" Donna answered truthfully. The dalek blinked at her before opening it's casing to reveal a purple mutant. Donna gasped with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"Get out of the way Donna" a voice said suddenly from behind her, scaring Donna half to death. She turned around and saw the Doctor pointing what looked like a machine gun at the dalek."Donna get out of the way right now!" Donna glared at him annoyed.

"Oi don't tell me what to do space-boy!" she snapped.

"That thing killed hundreds of people!" the Doctor replied angrily.

"Yet here you are pointing a gun at me" Donna said coldly.

"I've got to do this; I've got to end it. The dalek's destroyed my home, my people. I have nothing left". Donna looked at him and saw the loneliness and grief he felt so often echo through his old eyes for her to see.

"Just look at it" she said more softly. "All it wants is some sunlight"

"But it can't…."

"It couldn't kill Van Statten and it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you Doctor? What are you changing into?" the Doctor looked at her with tears burning in the back of his eyes.

" I couldn't….I wasn't….oh Donna they're all dead" he told her sadly.

"Why do we survive?" the dalek croaked with effort.

"I don't know"

"I am the last of my kind too"

"You're not even that. When Donna regenerated you, you absorbed her DNA. You're mutating" the Doctor told it. Donna asked if that was better but for a dalek it wasn't, he'd told her and the dalek had forced Donna to order it to kill itself which she did reluctantly. The Doctor and Donna stepped back and watched as the dalek levitated into the air and blew itself up. They both stood there in stunned silence for a while before making their way back to the Tardis. The Doctor stroked the outside of his ship fondly when they approached it.

"Little piece of home – the only thing I have left" he sighed.

"So was that the end of it? The time war?" Donna asked him and he nodded.

"I'm the only one left I win" he smiled at Donna bitterly.

"Maybe some of your people survived?" Donna suggested.

"Nah I'd feel it"

"Well at least you have me"

"Is that suppose to cheer me up?" the Doctor groaned mockingly and Donna shot daggers at him.

"You're never happy you. I might have to start calling you Mr. Grumpy soon if you don't lighten up" she said punching him on the arm.

"Come on let's just go" the Doctor said and they pair walked into his ship without even looking back. They were differinitely not coming back there anytime soon.


	7. Donna's big mistake

**A/N : Thanks for everybody who has reviewed my story so far, it means alot. I skipped long game because I hate that episode and find Adam very annoying, personally. Anyway hope you like this chapter, it was very difficult to write!.**

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Sat on the captain's chair in the Tardis, Donna stared at a photo of her dad that she'd always carry around in her wallet. It was one of him and her mum right before his death. Donna hadn't been born at the time, her mother had been heavily pregnant when her dad had been in a fatal accident on his way to a friends wedding. "Donna, it's your turn to pick, where do you want to go?" the Doctor asked, interrupting her thoughts. She snapped out of it and looked at him nervously. She wasn't sure how to go about asking him this but she might as well just give it a shot.

"My dad died before I was born" she said. The Doctor threw her a strange look.

"What?"

"Do you think you could take me to see him?" she tried to ask casually.

"Where's this coming from all of a sudden?" he frowned.

"All right if you can't do it, if it goes against the laws of time or something then just forget I ever said anything. Just leave it" Donna said, feeling slightly disappointed. She'd been secretly wanting to do this for ages but had never plucked up the courage to ask him.

"No I can do anything; I'm just worried about you"

"I want to meet him" she pleaded.

"Fine, your wish is my command but be careful what you wish for" he said getting up and moving around the console panel."Year and place"

"June 21st, 1967 Saint Mary's' church Chiswick" she told him and then he pressed in the co-ordinates. The Tardis set off and Donnas' stomach felt as if somebody had twisted it into a tight knot. The ship stopped rocking signalling they had arrived at their destination. "This is the day my parents got married" she said as she got up and moved towards the doors.

"You sure you want to go through with this?" the Doctor asked her, clearly concerned.

"Of course I do" she reassured him and practically ran out of the Tardis. The Doctor followed her and the two walked into an old, crumbling church that was on the other side of the street. They walked in and took seats right at the front. The music started and a young red haired man walked in, who Donna recognized as her father from the photo. He wore a grey suit and looked slightly nervous as he made his way to the front. Donna barely remembered to breathe as she looked at him. Then the music changed and everybody stood up. Donna smiled as she saw her granddad Wilfred, looking a lot younger than she was used too with graying brown hair, walking her young mother up the aisle. Her dress was old fashioned, as was expected, with lots of frill and a puffed out skirt. Sat behind her, Donna had realized, was her grandmother Birdie. She had never liked her grandmother like she loved Wilfred and Birdie gave her the occasional hard slap when she misbehaved, which she hadn't like. That was when she'd learnt that she gto her slap from her mother's side of the family.

"Please repeat after me" the priest spoke, pulling Donna out of memory lane and she realized they were already half way through the ceremony."I, Geoffery Howard Noble, take you Sylvia Anne Mott......". After they repeated their vows and exchanged rings, Donnas' heart melted as she watched her parents kiss. She'd never been able to see them kiss before and while most people would be embarrassed by their parents swapping DNA, it touched Donna deeply. After the ceremony had ended the Doctor took her back to the Tardis where she proceeded to sit down and stare into space.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked softly.

"When my dad died there was nobody there for him. I want to be there. Can we do that?" the Doctor wasn't really sure if that was such a great idea or not but Donna looked so sad he gave in.

"What day did he die?"

"May 13th 1975" Donna replied standing up. The Doctor set the Tardis on course and a few minutes later, after some violent rocking, the Tardis came to another halt. Donna slowly walked out of the Tardis with the Doctor and onto the street where her father had died. To her surprise, the weather was bright and warm. Again they were stood outside Saint Mary's church but this time it was for one of their friend's weddings. "This is it, Jordan Road. He'd been to buy a wedding present – a vase. My granddad always said what a stupid vase" she sighed. Then the pair watched as a car pulled up and Donna's father stepped out of it dressed in a dark blue suit and sliver tie. He picked up the vase from the passengers seat and started to walk across the road. Donna eyes widened as another car came speeding down the road out of nowhere, she couldn't watch it. She turned into the Doctor's chest and when she turned back, she saw her dad lying down on the pavement.

"Go to him quick" the Doctor told her but Donna stood frozen to the spot. Five minutes later, they had moved behind a wall and Donna was in tears.

"It's too late now. He died all alone. My dad hadn't deserved that and I was too much of a coward to do anything" she sobbed."Can I try again?" the Doctor looked at her unsure it was a wise thing to do but nodded and they went back to where they were before except into a different place so that their other selves from earlier wouldn't notice them. The car drove up; Geoff Noble stepped out and grabbed the vase. He started to cross the street and then the cream coloured car once again came speeding down the street towards him. "I can't do this!" Donna cried.

"You don't have to do anything but this is the last time we can be here" the Doctor said seriously. Donna watched as the car came forwards but her dad didn't even notice. She couldn't let him die. She couldn't stand here and know what was about to happen and let it. Before she knew what she was doing, Donna sprinted towards her father, her past self and the past Doctor watching in shock before fading away."Donna, no!" the Doctor yelled at her but she didn't listen and shoved her father out of the way.

"I did it, I saved your life" she gasped and her father looked up at her, shocked.

"Blimey did you see the speed of it? Did you get his number?" Geoff asked her but Donna wasn't really listening, she was too busy realizing she had just prevented her father's death.

"I really did it! Oh my god, you're alive! That car would have killed you!"

"Thanks, I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't have pushed me out of the way" he told her gratefully.

"I'm Donna" she grinned, not noticing the Doctor glaring at her from across the street.

"Geoff" he said shaking her hand after he'd picked himself up."Right I should be going, I'm already pretty late for this wedding I'm suppose to be at and my wife will probably kill me"

"Is this Bethany Adam's wedding by any chance?" Donna inquired.

"Are you going?"

"Yeah" she said without thinking.

"You and your friend need a lift?" he asked, glancing at the Doctor, who Donna now realized was looking at her darkly. For some unexplainable reason it made her shudder but she ignored it and accepted the lift off her father. The Doctor joined her as they got into Geoff's car and drove to the Noble's house around the corner. They got out and when they walked into the old version of Donna's living room he offered them both a cup of tea and they refused. Donna could barely tear her eyes away from her father. When Geoff had walked away into the kitchen, Donna turned and beamed at the Doctor.

"I can't believe he's alive, this is great! My mum always told me that he and her had plans to leave London and just see the world after they had retired and I'd flown the nest. Well, now they can do it!". The Doctor looked at her angrily with his arms folded.

"When we met I said 'travel with me in space' you said no but when I said 'time machine' you suddenly changed your mind". Donna could not believe she was hearing this. She glared at him annoyed.

"I didn't plan on this space-boy if that's what you're trying to accuse me of but when I saw him about to die, I just didn't think about anything else, only that I could stop it from happening"

" You're just another stupid ape" he snapped."I should have known. It's not about showing you the universe, it never is. It's about what the universe can do for you". Donna felt angry tears building up in the back of her eyes.

"Shut up! Just shut up! So it's all fine and dandy for you to go to past times and save people but when it's me saving my dad, it's suddenly a crime"

"There's a difference. I know what I'm doing and you don't. Two sets of us being there made it a vulnerable point" he said, sounding annoyed. Donna wiped away the tears that had started to fall with the sleeve of her jumper before speaking again.

"My dad's alive, that's what matters. Can you not understand that?"

"Donna, my entire planet and species died. Do you think it didn't occur to me to go back and save them?" he asked, this time more softly.

"But I didn't change that much did I? It's only my dad, it's not like he's a world leader or something"

"Donna" the Doctor sighed."There is a man alive in the world that wasn't alive before. An ordinary man that is the most important thing in creation and now the whole world is different because he is alive"

"Are you saying he'd be better of dead?" Donna hissed angrily.

"I'm not saying that!" he said exasperated.

"No I get it, for once not everything evolves around you!" she cried and he suddenly held out his hand.

"The Tardis key. Give it me back, if I'm so unimportant, let's see how you get on without me, Donna Noble" the Doctor said coldly. Donna stared at him icily before grabbing the key from around her neck and thrusting it into his hands."Well you've got what you wanted. Goodbye then!" Donna watched in shock as the Doctor walked out leaving her alone in the living room in 1975. If he disappeared right now, wouldn't he be screwing time up even more? She thought irritated. He'll be back, he'll have to be,otherwise he's even more of an idiot than her.

"Boyfriend trouble?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her and she saw her dad stood there looking concerned.

"No, we're just friends" she sighed. Thank god, they were just friends; she'd hate to be his girlfriend judging from the way he was just acting before. Whoever dated him would have to be a saint."Why does everyone think we're a couple? Anyway, I think he left me"

"What an attractive woman like you? If I was going out with yo-"

"Stop right there!" Donna said jumping to her feet from the coach she was sat on. "We are not going there, anywhere near there. You aren't even aware that there doesn't even exist. There for you is like the Bermuda triangle!"

"Well you know how to flatter a bloke" Geoff replied, looking and sounding slightly taken back.

"So off we go then?" Donna smiled offering her arm to Geoff.

"That wouldn't be a mixed signal then?"

"NO" she snapped as they walked out of the house.

Meanwhile, the Doctor stormed down the street angrily. Donna Noble had completely disappointed him. He thought she was different to the other stupid apes, he thought he could trust her but no. She goes and does something completely stupid like this and expects him to be happy for her. Well he wasn't, he thought as he unlocked the Tardis and flung open the doors. To his horror, there was no inside of his ship. It was just a normal police box."Donna!" he yelled, shut the doors and ran back in the direction he came in.

Donna and Geoff sat in his small green car and were just about to pull up outside the church when a very familiar cream car drove straight towards them. "Dad!" Donna yelled out as they swerved and then finally parked. They got out of the car and as they did Geoff threw Donna a strange look.

"It was right in front of us where has it gone?" he asked looking around for the car."And you called me 'dad', what did you do that for?"

"Err, I was just thinking of my dad when the-"

"Geoff!" a familiar voice called out and Donnas' whole body froze as her granddad, her grandmother and her heavily pregnant mother walked towards them. "Oh so here he is at last. The accident waiting to happen!" Sylvia hissed."You'd be late for your own funeral and it nearly was!"

"Hush now there's no need for that" Wilfred said calmly to his daughter."Geoff what kept you?" he asked, looking at Donna suspiciously. Donna felt her palms sweat. She was meeting younger versions of her mother and granddad and they were both glaring at her as if she'd just murdered someone.

"Who are you?" Donnas' grandmother, Birdie, demanded as she, Sylvia and Wilfred eyed her with distaste.

"I'm Donna" she said weakly."Nice to meet you all"

"What you staring at my daughter for? You're not an alien are you?" Wilfred asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"No!" she said, suppressing a giggle."It's just I've never seen her hair like that before".

"There's nothing wrong with my daughter's hair" Birdie snapped.

"So you're pregnant?" Donna asked trying to be polite and change subject.

"I knew it" Sylvia hissed aggressively at Geoff."You've been having an affair" Donna nearly started to choke on her own salvia.

"She saved my life, Sylvia!" he said in his defense.

"Oh that's a new one, what was it the last time?" Birdie jumped in and Donna felt sorry for her cornered father.

"Keep out of it Birdie, this is between me and my wife" he snapped at his mother-in-law, who looked offended."And anyway, if I was playing around, do you really think I'd be stupid enough to introduce her to my wife?" Sylvia glared at him annoyed.

"I wouldn't put it past you" she said before marching off into the church with her mother, leaving Wilfred and Geoff and Donna alone.

"If you two are having an affair we will find out about it" he said reproachfully at Donna and Geoff."Why he would pick you over my daughter though is beyond me". Donnas' jaw fell open and she felt stung. Her own granddad had just insulted her even if he didn't know who she was.

"You wait here and give a me a minute with my wife. Tell you what" he said grabbing some keys out of his jacket pocket. "Tell you what, straighten up the car or something, park it around the corner, just don't cause anymore trouble!"

"Oi, I'm not the one…." But her father had walked off before she could snap at him. How dare he blame her for his marriage problems! Cheeky git, she thought angrily.

"Donna!" the Doctor's voice called from down the street and she turned and smiled at him. She knew that space-boy would be back eventually. But then she saw what he was really looking at and screamed as she realized there was a giant green dragon hovering above her. Just as it was about to launch itself at her, the Doctor pushed her onto the ground. "Get in the church!" he yelled and she didn't need to be told twice. They both ran as fast as they could inside the old, stone building.

"Oh my god what are they?" a woman cried as she followed everyone else inside the church. The Doctor waited for everyone to get in before slamming the large doors shut. The dragon like creatures waited outside, hovering around the building.

"They're right outside!" Donna yelled at him, panicked.

"They can't get in, it's an old building. The older something is, the stronger it is and those creatures are called reapers" he explained calmly.

"It's them aliens! Didn't I tell you they were real?" Wilfred cried out from the bench he was sitting on next to Birdie and Sylvia and Geoff.

"Don't be stupid dad, what are they really?" Sylvia asked the Doctor.

"There's been an accident in time, a wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage" he answered her.

"What the hell are you chatting on about, a wound in time?" Sylvia scoffed, not believing a word that he said, while Wilfred was listening intently.

"Oh how did I know you'd argue?" Donna sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Sylvia just shut up and listen if that's possible" the Doctor ordered.

"How did you know my name?" she frowned."I've never met you in my life!"

"No and you never will unless I sort this out. Donna do as I say and check the doors" he commanded. Donna scowled at him but did as she was told. "I should of done that ages ago" he murmered as she walked off without a word.

"My dad was out there" the groom, Stuart, said as he approached the Doctor.

"You can mourn him later but right now we have to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive" he replied slightly impatiently.

"My dad had-"

"There's nothing I can do for him" the Doctor said cutting him off. Donna rolled her eyes as she came back towards him. He needed to learn to listen for once. Stuart then handed the Doctor his dad's phone and they listened as a voice repeated the same thing over and over again – "Watson come here we need you". Donna couldn't help but feel irritated as it repeated itself. The Doctor explained that the voice was of Alexander Graham Bell and it was the very first phone call ever made.

"We should ring the police" Stuart suggested.

"The police can't help you now, no one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time has been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound. By consuming everything in sight" he said glancing at Donna, accusingly. Donna looked back at him, guiltily.

"This was my fault wasn't it?". The Doctor didn't say anything, he didn't need too. A few benches in front of them, Geoff frowned as he overheard their entire conversation. He got up and looked out of the window, noticing the same car that nearly ran him over, passing by and fading away which Geoff thought was more than a bit odd. He frowned and then took a seat next to Donna, who looked as if she'd been crying.

"This friend of yours, what do you mean this is your fault?" he asked her.

"Everything" she said sadly.

"I gave you my car keys. You don't give your keys to a complete stranger" Geoff said, starting to put the pieces together. Donna looked at him, tears falling down her cheeks. "The moment I met you I trusted you. You called me dad. You're my daughter aren't you? From the future?"

"Yes" she who was just walking past, overheard the conversation and his eyebrows shot up in alarm.

"Hold on, what's going on?" Wilfred said interrupting. Donna looked up at him, still in tears.

"She's from the future Wilfred, she's your granddaughter" Geoff told him, his voice raw with 's face suddenly broke into a smile and all three of them started to hug.

"I'm sorry about earlier if I'd known who you are…." Wilfred apologized but Donna shook her head.

"No it's not your fault"

"How on Earth did you get here anyway? Was it aliens?" Wilfred asked eagerly and Donna started to laugh.

"Yeah, my friend, he's an alien and he owns a time travelling space ship"

"I knew aliens existed but nobody ever listens to me"

"Are you here because you knew these things were coming?" Geoff asked ignoring Wilfred.

"No" Donna answered.

"So what's the future like? What am I like? And has your granddad popped his clogs yet?"

"Oi!" Wilfred snapped but not angrily.

"Nah, granddads still alive, still obsessed with aliens of course and you….you're the greatest dad ever" Donna lied, not wanting to reveal the truth of what she was really doing there.

"So do you have a bloke back there?" Wilfred enquired.

"No, I'm still single" she smiled weakly.

"Why are you two talking to that tramp?" Birdie demanded, moving to the bench in front of them with Sylvia.

"Don't tell them" Donna whispered and got up quickly before they could say anything else that might just result in her slapping her bitchy old grandmother. She found the Doctor, stood by a table, deep in thought. "I'm sorry I should of listened to you for once" Donna apologized. "I didn't know what would happen"

"I wasn't going to really leave you" the Doctor admitted."Friends?"

"Yes" Donna smiled and they hugged before Donna yelped and jumped back."Bloody hell, have you got something hot in your jacket?" the Doctor frowned and pulled his Tardis key out of it. It was glowing in a yellow light. The Doctor grinned excitedly.

"It's the Tardis key. It's telling me it's still connect to the Tardis!" he exclaimed before walking towards the microphone at the front of the church and telling everyone that he can use the key to get his ship back and mend everything before asking for a battery. The groom pulled one out his dad's chunky phone and handed it to him. The Doctor zapped it with his sonic screwdriver and left it on the ground with the key to charge up. Donna went back to the back of the church and sat with Geoff and Wilfred.

"So why are you really here? You never told us, I mean if I had a time machine I wouldn't think 1987 was anything special" Geoff said and Donna felt awkward. She couldn't explain to her dad that she'd come here to stop him from dying and ultimately nearly cause the end of the world.

"Just ended up here I suppose" she said casually.

"Well lucky for me then otherwise that car would have killed me" Geoff smiled and Donna nodded, not saying anything.

"Am I a good granddad?" Wilfred suddenly piped up."Have I gone grey?"

"You're the best granddad and yeah you have" Donna laughed. Then everyone turned to the front of the church were the Doctor stood once again,warning people not to touch the key or it'll be zapped and all hope will be gone. After that, Donna asked the Doctor about her dad.

"Don't worry what you've changed will stay changed" he told her.

"You mean I'll still be alive?" Geoff said looking at Donna seriously. "I was meant to die but you saved me so all of this happened and it's because of me"

"Don't be daft it was my fault" Donna insisted.

"No I'm your dad, it's my job for it to be my fault" he smiled at her before Sylvia and Birdie came up from behind.

"How the hell are you her dad? ! What were you like twelve?!" Sylvia gasped.

"I always knew he was good for nothing pervert" Birdie sneered.

"Oh just shut up" Donna snapped and Birdie looked as if she was going to hit Donna. The Doctor could see a war about to break out.

"Sylvia listen, this is our kid" Geoff tried to tell her but she was too busy babbling about how wrong it was for him to have a thirty five year old daughter. "Oh for goodness sake, she's from the future!" he yelled exasperated and grabbed Donnas' hand and put it on Sylvia's stomach causing the church doors to swing open and allowing the reapers to fly in.

"Everyone behind me!" the Doctor yelled and everyone immediately did as he said. Donna's eyes widened with horror as they looked towards her.

"Donna what did you do now?"

"I didn't do anything genius!" Donna growled.

"Well that would make a change" he grunted. Donna walked over to him and slapped him across the face. "Oi! For goodness's sake Donna just go and stand behind me and try to keep your hands to yourself!". Donna glared at him but did as he said. "I'm the oldest thing in here!" he shouted at the reapers and Donna watched in horror as they swept down and ate him in two seconds flat. Then they flew around the church, touching the key and causing the Tardis to disappear. To Donnas' despair, she realized she was stuck there and everyone was going to die because of the foolish mistake she had made. Donna Noble had caused the end of the world, she should give herself a pat on the back for breaking the record of biggest screw ups ever, she thought to herself, miserably.

"He's dead. The whole worlds in danger and it's my fault" she cried and Wilfred and Geoff rushed over and hugged her. After they pulled away, Geoff walked over to the window and saw the same car as before once again passing by and fading into nothingness. That's when he realized there was still some hope left and it all depended on him.

"Donna that man really cared about you" her father said, walking back to her.

"What?"

"He didn't want you to go through it again if there was another way" Geoff sighed. "The car should have killed me, sweetheart and it's here. The Doctor figured it out ages ago and he was trying to protect me but he's not in charge anymore I am" before Donna could protest, Geoff wrapped her in a tight, warm, hug."Sylvia look she's our daughter" he said turning to his wife. Sylvia eyes widened with shock as she finally realized the truth and then it was her turn to hug Donna. "I'm meant to be dead. You're finally getting rid of me" he laughed sadly."I was so lucky to have met you Donna. You're my beautiful little girl and I am so proud of you. Sylvia has obviously done a great job bringing you up on her own. So are you going to be there for me?" Donna nodded slowly, tears falling down her face."Thanks for saving me" was the last thing he said before he pulled her and Sylvia into one last hug and ran in front of that car holding the vase he was carrying earlier on. The car drove right into him and Donna stood outside of the church with her eyes closed tight. A warm hand suddenly gripped her own and she saw the Doctor standing beside her.

"Go to him quick" he whispered. This time Donna didn't hesitate and she ran across the road and held his hand. He looked at her, smiled and then closed his eyes and died right there in the street. Donna started sobbing as she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived and took away his body as Donna walked back into the Tardis with the Doctor, not glancing back once.


	8. Blondes, bombs and blimps pt 1

**A/N : Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my story. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I worked really hard on it.**

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The Doctor and Donna rushed around the Tardis console while the ship shook about manically. Donna quickly grabbed hold of part of the railing as she nearly fell backwards. The Doctor, who seemed to be perfectly fine with all the shaking about, ran over to the monitor, concern furrowing his brow. "What's the emergency?" Donna asked coming up beside him.

"It's mauve" he said simply. Donna stared at him in confusion.

"Mauve? What the hells that?" she asked him. He looked at her as if she was completely stupid, something which she really did not appreciate.

"It's the universally recognized color for danger" the Doctor explained as he frowned at the monitor.

"What happened to red?"

"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing" he told her, gesturing to an object that had appeared on the monitor. "It's got a very basic flight computer – I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go" . Donna looked at him, slightly worried.

"How safe is it?"

"Oh it's totally safe" he assured her, as sparks flew out of the console panel and Donna fell backwards. As she picked herself up, she shot daggers at him. He looked at her sheepishly."Okay, reasonably, should of said reasonably there"

"No kidding" she muttered.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks – getting away from us!" he cried. Donna looked at him alarmed.

"What the hell is this thing anyway?" she asked him as he pulled a lever and pressed some random buttons she couldn't even began to understand.

"No idea!" he replied honestly. She looked at him incredulously.

"And why are we chasing it?"

"It's mauve and dangerous and about 30 seconds away from the centre of London" Donnas' eyes widened.

"Well you better get a move on space-boy!" Donna commanded."Although why is it we can't just go on a normal trip out and enjoy the views of alien cities?" she sighed remembering the last time they had tried to enjoy themselves. The Doctor had landed them on some alien place in the future called satellite ten or it might have been five, she couldn't remember , all she did remember was that some alien was eating employees on the top floor of the satellite and they narrowly escaped being eaten themselves before defeating the thing. So much for a relaxing break, away from all the dangers of the universe.

"Someday I'll take you to Barcelona Donna, I promise. And not the city, Barcelona, the planet. Trust me there is never any danger there, we'll go and have a nice relaxing time"

"You say that now space-boy but wherever you go, danger follows" she replied serious. The Doctor rolled his eyes at her and the Tardis came to a halt. "You can go out first just in case"

"Just in case, what?" he said, frowning at her.

"You know, that thing might be lurking outside or something"

"Don't be daft come on" he said pulling her out of the doors. They walked out onto some sort of dark alley, near some bleak looking houses. "Do you know how long we can knock around space without bumping into Earth?" he asked her as they glanced around at their surroundings.

"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" she replied.

"Of all the species in the universe it has to come out of a cow" Donna chuckled at that as they walked away from the Tardis. "Whatever it was, it must have come down somewhere quite close .Within a mile anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month"

"A month? We were right behind it!" Donna exclaimed with disbelief.

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place; we're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?" he asked before Donna could make a remark about his driving skills for like the one hundredth time since agreeing to come with him.

"Doctor, how much is a little?"

"A bit" the Doctor grunted in reply.

"So what's the plan all-intelligent time lord? Are you going to scan for alien tech or something?" Donna asked him, pleased that she'd thought of that herself.

"Donna it hits the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask" he said wiping the pleased smile off Donnas' face. She glared at him as they walked towards black double doors. He then pulled out his physic paper and flashed it at her.

"Doctor John Smith, ministry of asteroids. Oh that's original" Donna said rolling her eyes.

"Physic paper, tells you-"

"Yes I remember, I'm not completely stupid despite what you may think"

"You wouldn't think so" he muttered before Donnas' hand met his cheek. He stumbled backwards.

"Oi, what was that for?"

"Insulting me dim-wit! I'm not deaf you know" she snapped.

"You really need to find a new hobby Donna. Anyway" he said changing subject and eying the door."Door – music- people – what do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech" she said again but he ignored her and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the door."Can't you just give me some Spock for once? Would it kill you?"

"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" he remarked, making a face at her union jack shirt which she had thought was very patriotic.

"Do you want another slap?" she threatened and he gulped.

"No" he agreed, turning back to unlocking the door. Eventually he got it open and walked straight through it but just before Donna could follow she heard a little boy's voice.

"Mummy?" it asked, sounding scared. Donna frowned and glanced around until she spotted the little child stood on the roof of a building. The Doctor had already gone inside so Donna decided she'd help the little boy herself. She grabbed a pair of rusty ladders and climbed up towards him. Meanwhile the Doctor found himself inside a nightclub and as soon as the singer had left the stage, he ran on to it and grabbed the microphone.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" he said and everybody turned to look at him."Err….this might sound like a stupid question but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" the audience stared at him for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter. At first the Doctor didn't understand but then he caught sight of a poster warning people about the blitz and he rolled his eyes in despair. Outside, Donna was still trying to climb the ladders that lead onto the roof but was struggling until she noticed a rope. She grabbed hold of it and made her way up it.

"Mummy, balloon!" the child exclaimed and pointed to the blimp that the rope, Donna was currently clinging onto, was attached to.

"Oh you have got to be bloody kidding me" Donna muttered as the boy pushed the rope away from the side of the building and the entire blimp started to drift away with Donna holding on for dear life."Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! She shrieked."Space-boy!" she yelled as the blimp floated through the middle of an air raid. She looked down at her chest and her face paled."Okay maybe not the best choice of t-shirt after all".

The Doctor left the nightclub and went back to where he'd left Donna just a couple of minutes ago and unsurprisingly she wasn't there. "Donna?" he shouted but no answer."You know one day I might actually meet someone who will get the whole 'don't wander off thing'" he said, walking up to a cat in a dumpster, picking it up and shaking his head at it. Suddenly the phone in his Tardis started ringing to his suprise. The box wasn't even real so how could the phone possibly be ringing? He thought confused as he walked over to it.

"Don't answer it. It's not for you" a young female voice said and he turned around to see a pale, thin, brown hair girl stood staring at him.

"And how do you know that?" he asked her, mystified by the ringing phone and the sudden appearance of the young girl.

"Cos I do and I'm tellin ya – don't answer it" she said in a strong cockney accent. He glanced back at the phone.

"Well if you know so much, tell me this – how can it be ringing when it's not even a real phone? It's not connected, its not-"the Doctor turned back around from examining his phone to notice the girl had disappeared. He frowned and then picked up the phone anyway despite the girl's warning. "Hello, this is the Doctor speaking, how may I help you?"

"Mummy?" the Doctor's expression turned to alarm.

"Who are you? How did you ring here?" he demanded but the voice simply replied by saying mummy again. "Who is this?"

"Mummy?" it repeated again before the line went dead. The Doctor placed the phone back down and popped his head quickly into the Tardis to check if Donna was in there but she didn't answer when he called her name so he ran off down the street to investigate.

Meanwhile, as Donna was hanging thousands of feet in the air and screaming for her life, making matters worst, a woman was watching her through a pair of binoculars from a balcony. She wore a short navy skirt, a matching blazer with medals on the pocket, a pale blue shirt and matching tie and hat. Altogether it was a proper RAF uniform apart from the slightly unconventional black high heeled pumps. The woman's long blonde hair was placed back into a bun with the navy blue cap placed on top of her head. Her lips were painted bright red like every other woman's was in that decade, the difference being she wasn't exactly from that decade and as she examined Donna hanging from the blimp, she could see from her outfit that she wasn't from around here either.

"Rose? Are you going down to the shelter? Only I've got to go off on some silly guard duty" one of Rose's colleagues said coming up beside her, then looking up and also spotting the blimp but fortunately not the person holding onto it." Ah, barrage balloon eh? It must have come loose. Happens now and then. Say don't you RAF people use them for target practice?"

"What great hair" Rose commented, not paying much attention to the guy beside her and the man mistakenly thought she was talking to him.

"Why thank you young lady" he replied awkwardly and Rose put down the binoculars and grinned at him.

"Sorry old man, I've got to go meet a girl but you have great hair too I suppose" she said, slapping his bum on her way out, causing him to turn bright red. Still clinging the rope, Donna knew she couldn't hold on for much longer. She had come close to dying so many times with the Doctor but she always suspected if she was too die with him it would be an interesting heroic alien death in the very least. Not falling to death from hanging onto to a blimp in the middle of a German air raid in London in the 1940's. She felt all feeling leave her fingers and finally lost her grip and let go. She screamed and shut her eyes as she fell until suddenly it all stopped. "It's okay, I've got you!" a female voice beamed out of nowhere and Donna opened her eyes and realized she was in some kind of blue light.

"Who the hell are you and how are you doing this?!" Donna yelled, too scared to be grateful.

"I'm programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep hands and feet inside the light field" the woman told her.

"What the hell is a descent pattern?" Donna asked confused.

"Oh and please could you turn off your mobile? Seriously – it interferes with my instrument"

"Nobody ever believes that" Donna muttered but turned it off anyway.

"Thanks, that much better"

"Oh yeah of course it is. I'm hanging in the middle of the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the union jack plastered across my chest but as long as my mobile phone is switch off, everything is just brilliant!" she snapped before falling through the tunnel of blue light and landing with a loud thump In the middle of the cold, hard floor. "Ow, my bum!" Donna howled and rubbed it before the mysterious woman herself walked in and helped her up.

"Sorry about that" she smiled."You'll be okay; the tractor beam can just scramble your head a little". Donna stood up and looked at her, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Hi"

"Hi" she replied before Donna slapped her across the face. The blonde looked at her shocked. "What the hell was that for?"

"Letting me fall on my ass" Donna snapped before collapsing. As she slipped away she felt the woman pick her up and place her on a nice, soft bed.

Meanwhile, the Doctor found the mysterious brown-haired girl feeding at least fifteen children at some family's deserted house that was stuffed with food, especially in contrast to other people's homes around that time period, the Doctor noted. The girl didn't notice him sneak in and when she did, she seemed very reluctant to answer any of his long after, the child's voice the Doctor recognized from the phone echoed through the house. "Mummy" it called and the girl, who was named Nancy as the Doctor soon learned, hustled everybody out of there as quick as she could but the Doctor stayed behind and tried to talk with the child. When he opened the door, though, the child was gone.

When Donna finally woke up, she woke up to see her blonde rescuer sat on the pilot's seat in the ship, watching her and grinning. "All better now?" she asked.

"Turn some lights on please" Donna groaned. Rose flicked a switch and the room automatically brightened.

"Hello" she said, smiling at Donna.

"Hello, right back to you"

"You have one hell of slap" she commented.

"Who are you then?" Donna asked jumping straight to the point.

"Captain Rose Tyler, 133 Squadron Royal air force- British volunteer" Rose beamed, flashing her I.D card. Donna looked at it and grinned. She wasn't born yesterday.

"Liar. That's physic paper, tells me whatever you want it to tell me. And can women even be captains in the 1940's?" Rose looked at her, impressed.

"You're smart. how did you know?"

"One I have a friend who uses this and two you just handed me a paper saying your single and you work out. Sorry love but I don't swing like that" Donna replied handing the physic paper back to Rose, who grinned at her.

"That's a shame but neither do I, well not really" she grinned before glancing down at the physic paper Donna had just handed her back." But apparently you have a friend who might be interested according to this paper" Donna smiled at her.

"But he doesn't really get out much – I've never met anyone less interested in doing that sort of stuff"

"Donna, if there's one thing I've learnt, _everyone _is interested in doing that type of stuff" Rose said huskily and for some reason Donna found herself blushing and she wasn't even into her that way. She had to hand it to her; Captain Rose Tyler was definitely a charmer.

"So nice ship" Donna commented, opting for a change of subject.

"Thank you, it gets me around" Rose replied, seemingly amused.

"Very Spock"

"Who?"

"So I take you're not a local girl then" Donna said glancing around the ship. Rose looked down at her wrist watch ,which looked very advanced to Donna.

"A mobile, a liquid crystal watch, fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades…..guessing your not a local girl either?" Rose replied.

"Guessing right"

"Burn your hands on the rope?" Rose asked, glancing at Donnas' sore hands.

"Yeah"

"Here let me take a look" Donna held out her hands and Rose clicked her fingers. Two balls of light appeared and somehow managed to heal the damage done to the palms of Donnas' hands.

"You can stop acting now by the way" Rose said as Donna examined her hands."I can spot a time agent a mile away"

"A what?" Donna asked, completely bewildered.

"There's no need to play dumb with me. I've been expecting one of you guys to show up, though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"

"Yeah everyday, I just love it" Donna muttered before Rose grabbed hold of Donnas' wrist and teleported them onto the top of the ship. "

Nanogens, sub-atomic robots. The air is full of them and they just repaired the three layers of your skin" Rose told her matter-of-factly.

"Well tell them thanks" Donna said sarcastically.

"Down to business. Fancy a drink?" Donna didn't need asking twice.

"Hell yeah after what I've just gone through, a little alcoholic beverage wouldn't go a miss" Rose grinned at her before fading back into the ship. When she reappeared she was holding two glasses of champagne. Donna took one gratefully and then realized the ground beneath her feet…wasn't actually there.

"Where the hells the floor gone?" Donnas asked alarmed.

"Don't worry my ships just invisible" she smiled.

"Okay so why is it parked next to big Ben of all places?"

"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember "Rose told her simply.

Down in a wasteland, the Doctor had finally managed to track down Nancy, who was surprised he'd managed to find her once again. He eventually managed to persuade Nancy to be co- operative and she advised him to go see a man called the Doctor before walking off and leaving behind a very confused Doctor.

"Okay it's getting kind of late, my friends probably out of his mind worrying about me. Infact it wouldn't shock me in the least if he was tearing up the whole of London just to find me" Donna told Rose as they sat on the ship, drinking the champagne.

"But we haven't finished discussing business" Rose said quickly, stopping Donna from getting up.

"We're just drinking champagne" Donna pointed out.

"I never like to discuss business completely sober" Rose said, suddenly serious."Are you travelling alone? Are you authorized to negotiate with me?" For some reason, Donna felt like she was missing something. Did she look like some sort of out of space sales person or something?

"Excuse me? Would you care to enlighten me on what it is you want?" Donna asked her, frowning.

"I have something for the time agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?" It now dawned on Donna that this woman must have her wires crossed. She'd mistaken Donna for some sort of time agent. Whatever the hell one of those were, Donna thought completely mystified.

"Well I guess I should talk to my friend really….." Donna said, not having any idea what she was suppose to say.

"The one you told me about earlier?" Donna nodded. Rose stood up and pulled Donna up too. Donna stumbled a bit, as she'd had, had two glasses of champagne. "It's 1941" Rose said to Donna, in a business-like tone."The height of the London blitz. The height of the London bombing campaign. And something else has fallen on London – a fully equipped Chula Warship. The last one in existence armed to the teeth and I know where it is because I parked it. If the agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's the deadline, that's the deal. Now should we discuss payment?" Rose asked looking at Donna, who hadn't been listening to a single word Rose had just said because to be honest she was boring her half to sleep and also that champagne was making her slightly dozy.

"I think you were talking just there" Donna murmured. Rose rolled her eyes and wondered what kind of time agent this woman was before repeating herself all over again."Wow, good for you" Donna muttered.

"Are you even listening to me?" Rose asked, annoyed. Donna finally snapped out of it and pulled herself together.

"Yeah of course I was, bomb falling in two hours "she said, picking out the few words she remembered Rose saying just then.

"So does your friend handle the business?" Rose enquired, deciding that maybe Donna wasn't the best person to try to con at the moment.

"Yeah I guess"

"Well let's find him then"

"How are you suppose to that? London's big, he could be anywhere" Donna pointed out.

"I'll do a scan for alien tech" Rose said hell, this girl could possibly give the Doctor a run for his money, Donna thought with amusement.

Back in the wasteland, the Doctor talked to Nancy again, who told him once more to go talk to the man who she referred to as 'the Doctor'. After finding out that her little brother Jamie had been killed in the air raid and that's why she looked after so many kids, the Doctor left her and went to the abandoned hospital like she'd told him too. He met the Doctor, who was in fact called Doctor Constantine who showed him that all the bodies had the same symptoms. They all had a scar on the back of their hands and had gas masks for faces. Just as the Doctor thought he was getting somewhere, he watched in horror as Doctor Constantine's face transformed into a gas mask like all of the others and his body went limp.

"Hello?!" the Doctor heard an unfamiliar female voice call down the hallway just outside of the ward he was stood in.

"Hello?!" a second voice called out, this time it was one he knew all too well. He walked out of the ward and into the corridor and saw Donna coming towards him, looking annoyed for some reason and a beautiful, young, blonde woman in a RAF uniform walking alongside her.

"Oi, space-boy, I thought you'd be out looking for me. I could have been killed or kidnapped" she snarled, whacking him in the arm with her fist.

"Donna I kind of had bigger things on my mind" he said, rubbing his arm.

"Err……hope I'm not interrupting but I'm Captain Rose Tyler, I've heard so much about you" she smiled and held out her hand.

"Captain?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He was pretty sure there were no female captain's in the 1940's or maybe that was just him. He accepted her hand and shook it.

"She knows about us being time agents by the way" Donna told him and the Doctor glanced at her, confused.

"It's an honor to meet you , although Donna never told me just how good looking you were" Rose grinned and battered her eyelashes flirtily before walking past them and further down the corridor, leaving behind a half confused and a half pleased Doctor with a highly amused Donna.

"Good-looking? The poor woman's obviously off her rocker" Donna scoffed. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Why did she call me ?" he asked her and Donna looked at him innocently.

"Well I didn't know what to tell her, you don't have a bloody name for goodness sake. Don't you ever just get tired of just the Doctor?"

"Nine centuries in and I'm still coping" he told her as they started walking back to the ward Rose had just disappeared into.

"Exactly, you're over nine hundred years old yet you were looking at young Rose pretty intensely. In fact that might be the first time I've ever seen you express interest in anyone other than slimy green aliens trying to destroy the planet for profit" Donna laughed, highly enjoying herself. The Doctor frowned at her.

"I wasn't looking at her in any sort of way nor am I interested in her" he insisted as they walked into the ward where they found Rose scanning one of the bodies.

"What the hell is going on?" Rose demanded, turning towards them."This isn't even possible!"

" What kind of Chula war ship landed here?" the Doctor suddenly asked. Rose looked at him blankly.

"What?"

"She said it was a warship. She stole it then parked it somewhere a bombs going to fall on it unless we make her an offer" Donna said, suddenly sobering up and realizing what Rose had been saying back on her ship and glared at her in disgust.

"What kind of warship?" the Doctor demanded, looking at her darkly.

"Look why does even matter? It had nothing to do with this!" Rose yelled.

"This started at the bomb site, It's got everything to do with it, now what kind of worship?" he snapped at her angrily.

"It's an ambulance alright? It's what you chased through the time vortex, it's space junk but I wanted you to believe it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. When I saw your time travel vehical – love the retro look by the way – I threw you the bait-"

"Bait?" Donna asked confused.

"I wanted to sell it to you and destroy it before you found out it was junk. It was all a con, that's what I am" she sighed wearily."A con woman. I thought you were time agents but you're not are you?"

"No, just a couple of more free lancers" Donna spat, glaring at her, angrily. She had now decided that she did not like or trust this Rose Tyler. She was just a conniving liar.

"I guess I should of known really" Rose said, eying the Doctor and Donnas' clothing."Flag girl was bad enough but U-boat captain?" the Doctor looked at his jumper surprised.

"There's nothing wrong with this jumper" he argued.

"Yeah keep telling your self that" Donna muttered.

"Anyway I swear that whatever's happening here has nothing to do with that ship!" Rose protested."I might be a con woman but I don't make a habit to go around destroying planets. Do either of you two even know what's going on here?"

"Human DNA is being re-written by an idiot" the Doctor explained, looking at the bodies."It's some kind of virus and its converting human beings into these things but why? What's the point?" Just as Rose walked away from the body she'd been scanning, it sat right up. As did all of the other bodies.

"Oh my god they're alive!" Donna shrieked."What's going on?" Donna, the Doctor and Rose stepped back as the bodies began to corner them.

"I don't know" the Doctor said truthfully."Don't let them touch you"

"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, fearfully.

"You're looking at it". They all walked back as far as they could as the gas-mask zombies walked closer and closer to them.

"Mummy, are you my mummy?" they all hummed. They all exchanged glances. None of them had the faintest idea what they were going to do next.


	9. Blondes, bombs and blimps pt 2

** A/N : Thanks for the reviews, they're greatly appreciated :)**

* * *

The Doctor, Donna and Rose stepped back as the gas mask zombies surrounded them. Donna threw the Doctor a panic stricken look. "Doctor,do something! I will kill you if I end up like one of them!" she hissed. The Doctor's brow furrowed in concentration, just as the zombies were closing in on them he finally spoke.

"Go to your room" he ordered as if he was talking to a naughty child.

"Wow great plan" Donna muttered as the gas masked people stayed exactly were they where.

"Go to your room!" he yelled, the zombies cocked their heads to one side."I mean it, I am very very angry with you. I am very very cross. Go to your room!". This time the Zombies did as they were told and turned around and lay back down on their beds. The Doctor sighed with relief as he looked at them both. "I'm really glad that worked, those would have been terrible last words"

"Not to mention what I would have done to you" Donna added.

"Donna you wouldn't have been to have done anything if they had got us" he pointed out. Rose coughed so Donna wouldn't get the chance to retaliate.

"Instead of bickering why don't we figure what we're going to do here?"

"How was the con, suppose to work?" the Doctor asked, glaring at Rose intensely. Unlike other people Donna had witnessed suffer the same scrutiney, Rose didn't seem at all fazed and she looked back at him confidently.

"Simple enough really. Find some harmless piece of space-junk... let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front - oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con".

"Yeah perfect" Donna scoffed.

"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners - Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day" Rose joked but nobody laughed apart from her. She rolled her eyes at them, to Donnas' annoyance. Did she not care about anything?. "Getting a hint of disapproval".

"Take a look around the room, sweetheart, look what your piece of 'harmless' space junk did" Donna snarled. Rose glared back at her, angrily.

"It was a burnt out medical transporter – it was empty, like I keep telling you" she snapped.

"Donna let's go" the Doctor said, coldly ignoring Rose's presence.

"I even programmed it so it wouldn't land on anything living! I don't have a clue what's happening" Rose said, following them out of the ward."I didn't do anything, just believe me would you?"

"I'll tell you what's happening, you forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day" the Doctor replied, annoyed. Suddenly a siren started ringing, nearly giving Donna a heart attack.

"What the hells' that?" she asked.

"The all clear" Rose told her.

"I wish" the Doctor grumbled and the three of them ran down the corridor, down a flight of stairs until the Doctor stopped outside a door. "The night your space-junk landed, someone got hurt. This was were they were taken" the Doctor explained, shooting another accusing glance at Rose.

"What happened?" Donna asked.

"Let's find out. Get it open" he said, looking at Rose. Donna narrowed her eyes at the Doctor. "What's wrong with your screwdriver?"

"Nothing" he replied as Rose pulled out a blaster gun from her blazer pocket. She aimed it at the door, pressed on a button and suddenly a giant square was cut out of the wall.

"Sonic blaster, 51st century. Weapon factories of Villengard?" the Doctor asked her, looking at the gun.

"Yes, you've been to the factories?" She answered.

"Once" he said taking the gun from her to examine.

"They're gone now"

"Like I said – once. There's a banana grove there now. I like banana's, banana's are good" Donna rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"For goodness sake, what is it with you and bananas?" she asked as she followed them into the small room.

"Nice blast pattern" Donna said to Rose, civilly for the first time since she'd told them about her con.

"Digital" Rose smirked.

"Squareness gun" Rose nodded."I like it" Donna smiled at her before turning her attention back to what was happening.

"What do you think?" the Doctor asked them, glancing around the room.

"Something got out here. Powerful and angry" Rose answered sharply and for one moment, Donna could have sworn the Doctor had looked impressed but then he started frowning again like he always did when they were investigating. "A child" Rose added, noticing the child-like drawings pinned to the walls.

"That's right" the Doctor confirmed before pressing play on a tape that was in an old-fashioned recorder, on top of a table beside them. The taped played and Dr Constantine's voice echoed out, asking questions to the zombie child who repeatedly asked for his mummy.

"I've heard this voice before" Donna said as the child kept asking for his mummy.

"It's always are you my mummy as if he doesn't know" Rose added as the reels of the tape Doctor frowned and started to pace up and down the room.

"Can you sense that?" he asked the two women, who both looked at him confused.

"Sense what?" Rose asked.

"Coming out of the walls can you feel it?" they both looked at him blankly."Funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things?" As soon as he'd said that Donnas' hand met his cheek. Rose winced on his behalf.

"I've had about enough of you insulting my race" Donna hissed.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked the Doctor, walking towards him and gently placing a hand on his cheek. Donnas' annoyance turned to amusement as he stared at her, not angry like earlier but mesmerized. If Donna knew any better, she'd say he secretly fancied her. Then the moment came to an abrupt end when the Doctor glanced at the tape recorder.

"Mummy I'm here" the child's voice bellowed through the room but the tape was no longer moving.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Donna asked frightened.

"End of the tape. It ran out about 30 seconds ago" he told them, grimly.

"I'm here now, can't you see me?"

"I sent it to its room, this is it's room!" the Doctor said before he turned around and saw the child standing by the tape machine.

"Mummy?" it asked staring at them through its gas mask eyes.

"Oh for Pete's sake" Donna cried."Doctor, do something!"

"Okay on my signal….head for the door….now!" Rose yelled, reaching into her pocket and violently pointing a banana at the child. The Doctor grinned and pulled out her sonic blaster from behind his back.

"Nice going James Bond" Donna smirked at Rose as the Doctor pointed the gun at a wall and zapped a square in it.

"Go now!" the Doctor yelled at Donna and Rose."Don't drop the banana!"

"Why not?" she asked as she ran through the wall followed by the Doctor.

"Good source of potassium" he replied.

"Are you frigging kidding me?" Rose asked, staring at him in disbelief."Give that to me!" she hissed, grabbing her gun back off the Doctor without even dropping the banana. She pressed down on a button and the square in the wall closed and prevented the child passing through. "Here" she passed him back his fruit."Nice switch by the way, very smooth". She grinned at him and Donna thought she saw the Doctor look chuffed but then she blinked and it passed, to her great disappointment. Then the child started banging on the wall, to Donnas' alarm.

"Sorry to break up the love fest but I think it's time we vamoosed!" she said and the two behind clearly agreed as they ran beside her but they quickly stopped as the doors in front of them flung open and an army of gas masked zombies started to pour out. Then they turned to the other direction only to see them coming from that way too.

"It's keeping us here so it can get to us" the Doctor told them, looking slightly panicked which was rare because the Doctor never panicked. Not if he could help it. "All those creatures are the same child"

"Well that's just perfect!" Donna spat."What are we going to do?"

"Okay, so this can function as a sonic blaster, sonic cannon and a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what have you got?" Rose asked him, pointing her gun at the Zombies. The Doctor, looking slightly embarrassed to Donnas' amusement, glance at his small sonic screwdriver.

"Does it matter?"

"Just tell me what it is" Rose insisted.

"It's sonic let's leave it at that. Completely and totally sonic" he said stubbornly refusing to tell her what he was holding.

"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"

"It's sonic" he said again. Donna, who seemed to be the only one that realized they were about to get killed or transformed or whatever it was that happened, reached for Rose's gun.

"A sonic what?!" she demanded.

"Screwdriver!" he yelled back, pointing it at her and looking really embarrassed. Donna would have laughed but she didn't have time for this. She grabbed hold of Rose's gun, pointed it downwards to the floor and pressed the button.

"Going down!" Donna shouted at the other two as the ground opened up and they dropped right onto the next floor. Rose pointed the gun upwards and closed it.

"Doctor are you alright?" Donna asked, picking herself up off the floor. The Doctor rubbed his back and glared at her.

"I could have used a little warning"

"Charming, I save his life and this is how he repays me. Moan, Moan, Moan, Moan"

"You do know you two sound like an old married couple?" Rose asked, amused. The Doctor made a strange choking sound and Donna glared at her.

"You're obviously dumber than you look because we do not look like anything of the sort" she scoffed. Rose narrowed her eyes at her before walking to Donna and slapping her so hard she fell onto the floor. The Doctor stared at Rose with a mixture of awe and fear.

"Oi, that hurt"

"I don't like usually like being called stupid" she said pulling up a shocked Donna.

"Now you know how I feel. I like her" he murmured into Donnas' ear. Donna glared at him.

"I thought so when I saw you leering at her when she wasn't looking" she hissed.

"I do not leer and wasn't even looking at her. If you've forgotten, she's a lying con woman" he spat.

"No I think it's you whose forgotten"

"Okay can I just ask, who has a sonic screwdriver?" Rose said, raising an eyebrow at the Doctor, who immediately snapped into defensive mode.

" I do!"

"Who looks at a sonic screwdriver and thinks oooh that could be a little more sonic?!" Donna grinned at her, obviously forgetting all about the slap, which worried the Doctor slightly because that was so un-like Donna.

"You should see half the crap he thinks up when he's bored"

"What you've never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to up?" he asked, annoyed by Donnas' sudden switch of sides.

"Maybe you need a woman in your life" Rose said suggestively and winked. Donna had to put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from either laughing or throwing up. The Doctor didn't look at Donna, he just watched Rose as she flicked on the lights. As soon as she'd done that, the zombies that lay on the beds in that ward, shot up and started calling out mummy.

"That is getting really on my nerves" Donna hissed.

"Door!" Rose yelled and immediately pointed her sonic blaster at it. Nothing happened."Damn it,the special features have drained the battery!"

"The battery? That's so lame" Donna said as the Doctor opened the door and they all ran through it with the Zombies hot on their trail.

"I was going to send for another one but somebody had to go blow it up!" she snapped and shot the Doctor a pointed look.

"Do you get a kick out of blowing up buildings or something?" Donna asked as they ran into a small room. The Doctor slammed the door shut and locked it with his sonic screwdriver.

"Ah that should do it"

"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Rose yelled.

"Well it's got to find us first, come on we're not done yet, assets! Assets!"

"Well I have piece of fruit and you can put up some cupboards in a pinch" Rose grumbled."We're screwed"

"Window?" Donna suggested.

"Well if you want to commit suicide that is a perfect plan" Rose snapped."It's at least seven stories"

"And no other exits" the Doctor sighed.

"Well the assets conversation went in a flash didn't it?" she smirked. The Doctor looked at Donna, unimpressed.

"So where'd you pick this one up then?"

"More like I picked her up. She was hanging from a barrage balloon ,I had an invisible space ship. Do I need to say more? And I take from the way your glaring at me right now, that there's no chance of a date sometime?" Donna raised an eyebrow. There was definitely something wrong with this girl who called herself a captain. However, Donna did take great amusement in watching the Doctor squirm.

"Enough flirting, we need to figure a way out!" Donna said, jumping in and saving the Doctor from himself. After all he wasn't exactly a smooth-talking, ladies man.

"Right then" the Doctor coughed turning to look at Donna and not 'captain' Rose."One, we want to get out of here. Two, we can't. Have I missed anything?"

"Yeah your new girlfriend's just buggered off" Donna told him. He turned around to see that Donna was right, about Rose leaving, not Rose being his girlfriend. For some reason he looked slightly disappointed as he sat down in a chair, looking completely clueless.

"She vanished into thin air" the Doctor muttered to himself but un be known to him, Donna could hear him."Why is it always the great looking ones that do that?"

"Oi, I'm still here space-boy" Donna said comfortingly but the Doctor frowned.

"You're just proving my point". It didn't take two seconds before Donna slapped him for like the tenth time that night, setting a new record.

"Now you can figure out what the hell we're, suppose to do" Donna growled, sitting down in a wheelchair. Suddenly the radio on the shelf started to crackle and Rose's voice bellowed out of it.

"Doctor? Donna? Can you hear me?"

"Yes" the Doctor said quickly.

"I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport, sorry there wasn't enough power to take you with me but I'm sorting it out. Hold on" she said, sounding a bit muffled.

"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked.

"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill" Rose explained.

"That's a coincidence. The child can Om-Com too" the Doctor told her before another voice joined the conversation and it wasn't Donnas'.

"I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to finnnnd you" the gas mask child squeaked.

"I'll try to block out the signal. I love this song" Rose said before some old fashioned music started playing and she stopped talking. Donna slumped down in the wheelchair and stared into nothingness, completely bored while the Doctor held his sonic screwdriver next to the window.

"What are you doing?" she asked even though she wasn't really all that interested. She never was when it came down to all the techno babble.

"Trying to loosen the bars" he replied. Donna raised an eyebrow.

"You don't think she's coming back?"

"Wouldn't bet my life" he grunted.

"Why don't you trust her? I thought you were starting to like her or at least I got that impression" The Doctor didn't look at her, just kept on buzzing the bars with his screwdriver.

"Why do you?" he asked finally.

"Who says I do trust her? I'm not the one drooling all over her like she's a piece of eye candy or something. But she did save my life, con woman or not. 'Captain' Rose doesn't seem all that bad'.

"Donna, stop concentrating so hard on my love life. I'm pretty happy as I am" the Doctor mumbled, giving up on trying to loosen the window bars.

"I wasn't concentrating on your love life you big eared idiot" Donna snapped."But I guess I forgot for a moment, you don't do that kind of stuff do you?"

"You just assume I don't….." the Doctor looked at her, flustered."Dance"

"So you do….'dance'?" Donna smirked, clearly amused by his awkwardness.

"Just shut up will you" he growled.

"Fine I'll let it go space-boy" she sighed."For now anyway" she added under her breath.

"Rose is more than half my age anyway" the Doctor muttered, leaning against a wall.

"Talking about me?" a voice asked and they both spun around and realized they were standing in Rose's space ship. She grinned at them. The pair of them blushed, embarrassed.

"Most people notice when they've been teleported, you are so sweet" she said to the Doctor, who scratched his ear awkwardly. "Besides I've always had a thing for older guys, I find their maturity so sexy" Donna looked away before pulling a face. "Sorry I took so long I had to take nav-com offline to override the teleport security".

"You can spend ten minutes over riding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is" the Doctor said, reproachfully. Donna glared at him, she'd just saved them from rotting in that storage room and now he was lecturing her but Rose didn't seem all that bothered. In fact she looked amused.

"I do. He was gorgeous" she winked.

"This is a Chula ship" the Doctor noted.

"Yeah, like that medical transporter except this one is actually dangerous" Rose replied. The Doctor frowned before snapping his fingers. Two balls of light surrounded his hand.

"Hey, they're what fixed my hands up!" Donna exclaimed.

"Nanogens. Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed - all better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws" the Doctor explained to Donna before turning back towards Rose."Take us to the crash site. I need to see you're space junk".

"I will just as soon as I get nav-com come back online" Rose said coolly. "Carry on with whatever you two were talking about before I interrupted. Don't mind me". The Doctor's eyes moved to the floor and Donna coughed then took a seat beside Rose.

"So you used to be a time agent and now you're trying to con them?" she asked, trying not to sound judgmental.

"If it makes me sound any better, Donna, it's honestly not for the money" Rose answered honestly.

"For what?"

"I woke up one day while I was still working for them – I found that they'd stolen two years of my memories and I'd really like them back"

"They just nicked your memories?"

"Two years of my life, I have no idea what I did" Rose glanced at the Doctor and their eyes met. They gaze at each other for a moment before Rose turned back to Donna.

"He doesn't trust me and I know you don't either. For all I know, you're right not to" she sighed before the computer next to her started to beep. "Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?" she asked looking at the Doctor who nodded. A few minutes later they found themselves at a railway station where the bomb had landed. Unfortunately, Rose's colleague from earlier was stood pacing up and down guarding it and they were stuck hiding."Damn they've got Algy on duty. It must be important" Rose whispered.

"Well we've got to get past" the Doctor hissed.

"I can distract him" Donna smiled huskily."I've picked up a few womanly wiles over the years, leave this to me"

"Err… no offense Donna but I've seen your womanly wiles and I don't reckon that would be such a great idea" the Doctor commented and Donna scowled at him.

"Well I've got to know Algy quite well while I've been in town. I'll distract him" Rose said standing up and leaving their hiding place."Don't wait up". The Doctor and Donna exchanged expressions.

"Well she sure gets around a lot" Donna muttered.

"She's a 51st century woman. Would do you expect?" he grunted and watched as Rose jumped onto the railway where Algy was still pacing up and down. He stopped the moment he saw Rose approaching.

"Hi there gorgeous, your looking good tonight. How it's hanging?" she smiled, batting her lashes flirtily. Donna glanced at the Doctor and could have sworn she'd seen a flicker of jealously flash his face for just a moment but she looked again and his face was blank.

"Mummy?" he asked.

"Okay I don't usually go for that kind of kinky stuff but I guess I can work with it" Rose said, hoping that was all it was

. "Mummy?" he asked again and Rose knew that something was wrong. Algy had been infected.

"Algy, it's Rose" she said, alarmed.

"Rose...are you my mummy?" he squeaked, cocking his head back like a child. Then, to Rose's horror, he fell to his knees and his face transformed into a gas mask, confirming Rose's fears. As soon as that had happened, a dozen soldiers came running over. The Doctor and Donna jumped out of their hiding place and joined Rose at the railway.

"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled at the soldiers.

"You men stay away" Rose shouted and they stopped.

"The effect's become air-borne. Accelerating" the Doctor told them gravely, gazing down at Algy's lifeless body.

"What's keeping us safe?" Donna asked him, worried.

"Nothing" he replied bluntly. Donna went pale. "Which means if the contamination is air-borne now, there's only hours left"

"For what? Rose asked, looking panic stricken.

"Til nothing. Til forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" the Doctor frowned and they all looked over at the direction the gentle, singing was coming from which was the shed, right across from them. The Doctor ran towards it, Donna and Rose following and found Nancy handcuff to a table, singing to a gas-mask guard. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to release her and they ran as quickly as they could back out of there. The four of them walked back to the bombsite before the Doctor and Rose uncovered the Chula med-ship.

"You see it's just an ambulance" Rose said, pointing at the ship.

"That's an ambulance?!" Nancy asked, slightly shocked.

"It's from another world" Donna told her, wrapping a comforting arm around the girl's shoulders.

"They've been trying to get in" Rose muttered, entering a code into it.

"Of course they have. They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest weapon. What are you doing, by the way?" he asked her.

"Proving my innocence Doctor. The sooner you see it's empty, the sooner you'll see I have nothing to do with this"

"Doctor!" Donna cried out and pointed towards the iron gates at the end of the bombsite. Nancy, the Doctor and Rose turned and watched in horror as an army of gas mask Zombies started to push at the gates.

"Captain, secure those gates!" the Doctor yelled at Rose. Rose nodded and ran off towards the gates as the Doctor turned and looked at Nancy.

"Nancy, how did you get in here?"

"I cut the wire" she answered.

"Donna, reattach those barbed wires!" he commanded, throwing her his sonic screwdriver. She narrowed her eyes at him like she always did when he was bossing her about but obeyed him anyway. Shortly after, Nancy joined Donna at the barb wire.

"Who are you? Who are any of you?" she asked Donna with a bewildered expression.

"As if you'd believe me" Donna scoffed as she reattached the barbed with the screwdriver.

"You just told me that was an ambulance from another world. People are running around with gas masks for faces and bombs are falling from the sky. Do you think there's much left I wouldn't believe?" Donna smiled at her warmly.

"Alright then, what if I said we're time travelers from the future?"

"I believe you. I believe anything me. But how can there possibly be a future?" Nancy looked up at the sky. There were planes soaring around all over.

"Nancy, this isn't the end. It might look like that now but it really isn't. I'm a Londoner from your future" Donna assured her.

"You're not German"

"I'm speaking English aren't I? the Germans don't even come here Nancy; they're not going to win" Donna covered her mouth quickly."Crap, don't tell the Doctor I told you that or he'll kill me. Now let's get back to the him" Donna said pulling herself up onto her feet. The two of them walked back just in time to see Rose open the hatch of the ship.

"See it's empty!" She said, folding her arms across her chest.

"What do you expect in a Chula warship medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Donna, can you suggest anything?" the Doctor asked, looking at Donna before turning back to Rose and glaring at her.

"Nanogenes" she said automatically.

"It wasn't empty Captain. There were enough Nanogens in there to rebuild an entire species "the Doctor told her, annoyed. Rose shook the ship and her face paled dramatically.

"Oh god!" she gasped.

"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the Nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gasmask"

"And they brought him back to life? They can do that??" Donna asked the Doctor, looking alarmed.

"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a Nanogene. One problem, though - these Nanogenes - they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot, have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly - off they go, work to be done. 'Cos you see now they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire Human Race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" the Doctor said, glaring at Rose coldly.

"I didn't know!" she said defensively.

"Well fat lot of good that is" Donna sneered."Congratulations, you've managed to single handedly bring about the end of the human race"

"Donna" Nancy said, looking at the gate. Donna turned around and looked at what she was looking at and to her horror saw thousands of gas mask people marching right towards them. She glanced at a red light flashing on the ship.

"It's bringing the gas mask people here isn't it?" she asked the Doctor, terrified.

"The ship thinks it's under attack so it's calling the troops" he answered, staring at the zombies, who were starting to surround the fences. They had no where to run.

"Why don't they attack?" Rose piped up, nervously.

"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander" the Doctor replied coolly.

"The child?" he nodded.

"Not the child, Jamie" Nancy snapped. The Doctor glanced at her suspiciously.

"So how long until the bomb falls?" asked Donna.

"Any second" Rose replied, grimacing.

"What's the matter Captain? Bit too close to volcano day for you?" the Doctor sneered angrily at Rose before Nancy started to speak.

"He's just a little boy and it's all my fault" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"No" the Doctor said immediately. If it was anyone's fault, he thought annoyed, it was Captain Rose Tyler's.

"It is. It's all my fault" she sobbed.

"How can it be your-"the Doctor broke off and glanced back at the zombies, who stood calling for their mummy and then back at a sobbing Nancy. Just before he could say anything a bomb exploded nearby and Donna flinched.

"Doctor – that bomb we've got seconds" Rose told him.

"You could teleport us out" Donna suggested.

"Not you guys, the nav-coms back online. It will take too long to over ride the protocols" she sighed before the Doctor told her to do what she had to do. Rose nodded before teleporting out of there, leaving behind a disbelieving Donna and the Doctor, who wasn't even particularly bothered. He was too busy staring at Nancy.

"He's not your bother is he?" he asked. "A single teenage mother in 1941. You hid and you lied. You even lied to him" he glanced back at the child that was stood in front of the other gas mask Zombies. Nancy started to cry even more before the Doctor encouraged her to walk towards him. She did so slowly but eventually got there. The child asked once again if she was his mummy.

"Yes I am your mummy" she smiled weakly."I'm your mummy and I will always be your mummy. I am so sorry". Nancy wrapped her arms around her little boy, not caring if she turned into a zombie or not. Suddenly a golden light surrounded them . After pulling away, the Doctor walked towards them.

"Oh come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one" the Doctor prayed to himself, staring at the mother and child in front of him. They all watched as the child lifted the gas mask off his face, revealing a cute little boy underneath. Nancy stared in surprise before the Doctor picked the boy up and swung him around. Nancy asked what happened and the Doctor explained that the Nanogenes recognized the parents DNA. They didn't change her but she changed them. Then he walked back towards Donna, leaving Nancy and her son alone to celebrate.

"Doctor that bomb…." Donna started speaking but the Doctor cut her off.

"Taken care of"

"How?" she asked, frowning.

"Physiology" he grinned. Suddenly a blue force field appeared and Donna and the Doctor looked up to see Rose sat on a bomb in the force field.

"Doctor" Rose said, her bright red lips stretched into a smile.

"Good girl!" the Doctor yelled up at her. Donna raised an eyebrow.

"Good girl? What is she your daughter or student or something?" the Doctor choose, to ignore Donna.

"The bombs commenced detonation" Rose called down at the Doctor.

"Change of plan – don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it safely as you can?" he asked.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

"Goodbye" Rose said before disappearing but returning five seconds later."Oh and I think your gorgeous despite the big ears" the Doctor looked at her insulted before leaving again. Donna sniggered.

"What are you doing?" Donna asked him as he gathered some Nanogenes in his hands.

"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. Watch and be amazed, Donna Noble" he grinned as he threw the Nanogenes as the gas mask people, who immediately fell to the floor surrounded by Nanogenes. "Just this once everybody lives". Donna smiled as people got up from the ground, their gas mask faces recovered back into normal human faces. The Doctor walked over to Doctor Constantine and told him to take credit for the people's miraculous recovery. When an old lady approached Constantine, he walked back to Donna and left him to get all the praise. A few minutes later, the Doctor and Donna were back in the Tardis, stood around the console. The Doctor started babbling about everybody living but Donna wasn't listening. She was too busy thinking of Rose.

"Doctor" Donna said slowly."What happened Rose?" His grin faded and he looked away but Donna wasn't just about to give up. This was the first woman or even species he seemed to genuinely like and she wasn't about to let him leave her behind that easily. Meanwhile sat in her ship, Rose started talking to the ship's computer. After asking a few questions, she realized she had no chance of survival. There was no escape pod or anything.

"Initiate protocol four-one-seven" Rose ordered before a drink appeared on the dashboard. She picked it up gratefully."The last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas before breakfast. All a blur after that. I woke up in bed with both my executioners. Lovely couple, they stayed in touch. Can't really say that about most executioners" she laughed.

"What are you yapping on about?" a voice called out from behind her. She spun around in her chair to see Donna and the Doctor standing inside their ship, looking at her."Don't take forever; you're ships about to blow up!" Donna yelled. Rose grinned and ran through into the Tardis, shutting the doors behind her.

"Good to see you again, Donna. Doctor" Rose smiled. The Doctor shrugged awkwardly.

"Couldn't let you die now could I?" suddenly some slow romantic music came on and they both looked to see Donna stood by a small CD player placed on the captain's chair. They stared at her.

"So what if I packed my CD player when we went home, is that a crime? Anyway, I'm going to grab myself a cup of tea. I'll be back in a while" Donna said walking out of the console room , leaving them alone. The Doctor frowned. Donna had done this on purpose the little sneak, he thought.

"Fancy a dance?" Rose asked, holding out her hand, grinning.

"Err….alright" he agreed. He placed his hands on her hips and they swayed around the room silently. Donna watched from the doorway, feeling highly pleased with herself. Now if only someone could find her a boyfriend then everything would be perfect.


	10. Margaret Slitheen's revenge

**A/N : This chapter is for everyone who has taken the time to review my last chapter. Pretty please review again, I love reading them! :). Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, I've nearly finished my AU of series 1 :).**

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Sat in the captain's chair in the console room, Donna stifled a yawn as the Doctor silently pressed some buttons and pulled a lever. "So how about Barcelona like you promised space-boy?"

"Not yet – the ship needs to refuel" the Doctor told her.

"Refuel? Okay so where do you do that then? Please tell me somewhere exotic where I can sunbathe" she pleaded. The Doctor hesitated.

"Err…it's Cardiff"

"That better be as in a nice exotic alien planet" she said, glaring at him dangerously. He gulped.

"As in Earth" he told her truthfully. Donna looked like she was going to kill him but he was saved by a voice from the door way.

"So is this outfit alright?" they both turned and saw Captain Rose walking in, dressed in low-cut black jeans, the kind that Donna used to wear when she was a teenager just to annoy her mother and a stretchy white vest top with the word HOT written right over the chest area in sparkly pink letters. She wore the same black pumps she'd worn when they'd met her. She looked two years younger than her actual age which was twenty one, so Donna had learnt from her. Donna glanced at the Doctor and her intial annoyance turned to amusement. He was drooling over her like a dog over a piece of meat. Suddenly he cleared his throat.

"It's fine I suppose but I'm sure we don't have any clothes like that stored in the Tardis wardrobe" he said turning back to what he was doing in predictable space-boy fashion, Donna noted with exasperation. He clearly fancied her and she blatantly flirted with him but he always ignored it. The Doctor needed a life. Seriously, Donna thought, slightly irritated her attempts at match making hadn't really gotten very far.

"You don't" Rose admitted."I have a fabricator that designs them for me. That's how I get my outfits for every different time period I find myself in" Donnas' jaw dropped open.

"Seriously? You have a device that you can use to create whatever clothes you feel like wearing?" Rose grinned.

"Where can I get one of those?"

"You can't" the Doctor cut in."She's from the 51st Century and presumably she got it from one of the factories that sold that kind of technology before they were converted into banana groves"

"That's right" Rose confirmed, slightly impressed."But I'll let you borrow it sometime Donna" she walked up beside them."Where are we going?"

"Cardiff, Earth. We're going to the rift, we need to refuel" the Doctor said typing in the co ordinates.

"Oh so that's why we're going Cardiff to refuel" Donna said, starting to understand now. Then the ship started to rock about and Rose, who wasn't used to the Doctor's bad driving, fell backwards and banged her elbow on the railing on her way down. The Doctor immediately rushed over to her, while Donna clung to a pillar.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, concerned. She smiled at him.

"Trust me I've had worst rides. I'll get over it" Rose replied, picking herself up. Donna couldn't help but note that the Doctor had been suppressing a laugh when it had been her who'd fallen over the first time in the Tardis. What a difference. Suddenly the ship came to a halt.

"I think we're here now. Rose, have you ever been to Earth before?" Donna asked.

"Yeah of course. I'm from 51st century London, not another planet" Rose told her and Donna appreciated that she wasn't looking at her like she was the thickest person in the whole of time and space like the Doctor was doing right now. She was going to have words with him later. Suddenly there was a knock on the door."I'll get that" Rose said walking towards the doors."Do you usually have visitors?" the Doctor shook his head, frowning. She swung open the doors to see a tall, bald headed, black man stood in front of her. "Who the hell are you?" she asked. The man glared at her, irritated.

"What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are _you_?". Rose felt an urge to punch this man. He was rude as well as ugly.

"Captain Rose Tyler. Whatever you're selling, we're not buying" she retorted. The man looked visibly pissed off.

"Move out of my way!" he growled and shoved Rose aside. Rose regained her balance and shot daggers at the back of the guys head. Nobody shoved her about and got away with it. Donnas' eyes widened with surprise.

"Lance? What the heck are you doing here?" The Doctor looked down from the ladder he was standing on with a light strapped to his head.

"Oh great, honestly Donna, I know you're not exactly a catch but you could do so much better than him" the Doctor grumbled. Donna was a few seconds away from slapping him but for now, she decided to question Lance.

"You know this moron?" Rose sneered with disgust.

"Unfortunately" Donna muttered."Lance, what are you doing in Cardiff?"

"I'm on holiday with my mum" he replied lamely."I have to say, you look amazing. I've missed you" Donna wanted to vomit. Rose turned, looked up at the Doctor and grinned.

"Aw, that's so sweet. Why don't I get any of that?"

"Buy me a drink first" he replied while fixing something on the wall.

"That's such hard work" she whined.

"But worth it" Donna made a scoffing sound but refrained from saying anything.

"So, Donna, how about you? What are you doing in Cardiff of all places? And who the hell is the teenage tart? I mean I don't mind you hanging out with big ears over there-"

"Oi!. First of all, only I am allowed to insult him about his ears. Second of all, Rose is not a teenage tart, she's neither a tart nor a teenager and since when did you get a say in who I hang out with?" Donna snarled and Lance blushed.

"Sorry I didn't mean that, it's just you're friend is kind of….."

"Gorgeous?" Rose suggested. Lance shook his head.

"More like a flirt" Rose walked up to Lance and her hand meet his cheek. Even Donna winced at the cracking sound it made.

"Are you saying that I'm not handsome?" the Doctor asked them, after climbing down the ladder.

"I think you are" Rose purred, batting her eyelashes. Donna sniggered.

"Well that makes one of us" Donna murmured before turning to her ex-boyfriend."Lance, we just stopped off to refuel. Thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions—"

"The rift was healed back in 1869—" the Doctor jumped in.

"Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, 'cos these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it" Donna grinned.

" But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the Human Race-" Rose said, joining the conversation excitedly.

"But perfect for the TARDIS, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and—" the Doctor added before it was Rose's turn to speak again.

"Open up the engines, soak up the radiation—"she exchanged a smirk with Donna, who continued the sentence.

"Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!"

"Into time!" Rose said hi-fiving Donna.

"And space!" they all shouted, hi-fiving each other and laughing. Lance looked at them with disbelief.

"My God, have you seen you're selves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?" Lance sneered.

"Yeah" they replied at the same time before walking out of the Tardis.

"Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we've got time to kill" the Doctor told them as they stood next to a fountain.

"That old lady's staring" Lance told them. They all turned and looked at a grey haired woman frowning at the box.

"Probably wondering what four people could be doing inside a small wooden box" Rose sniggered. Donna and the Doctor laughed.

"Don't be so dirty minded" Donna scolded Rose but was still laughing. Lance stared at Rose with contempt.

"What are you Captain of? The innuendo squad?" Rose threw Lance a whatever sign and ignored him. "Wait, you can't leave the Tardis, someone will notice it" Lance said to the Doctor.

"Yeah why does the Tardis look like that?" Rose asked him, curious.

"It's a cloaking device" Donna told her.

"It's called a chameleon circuit. The TARDIS is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck" the Doctor explained.

"Why don't you just fix it?" Lance frowned.

"I like it, don't you?" the Doctor grinned.

"I love it" Donna smiled.

"But that's what I meant! There are no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?" Lance asked, exasperated.

"Lance, let me tell you something about the Human Race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do they do?" Lance blinked at him."Walk right past it. Now stop being a nag and let's explore!"

"It's the Cardiff, there's not really much to explore…" Donna muttered to herself."So what's the plan?"

"I'm starving" Rose told them.

"Yeah, we might as well get some proper dinner while we're stuck here" Donna agreed and the four of them walked into the nearest café they could find and sat down a table with Donna across from Lance and next to Rose and Rose across from the Doctor, who was stuck next to Lance much to his annoyance. But in all fairness nobody wanted Lance there. Lance tagged along uninvited and had been staring at Donna the entire time."Hey Rose, tell us that story again will you?!" Donna requested, glancing at her friend, as soon as she'd realized Lance was about to speak. The Doctor knew Donna quite well by now and knew that it was a blatant attempt at stopping her ex-boyfriend from asking another question which was probably a relief for them all quite frankly.

"Which one?" Rose asked.

"The one with the just cracked me up, that one did!" Donna grinned and looked at the Doctor from the corner of her eyes. He was staring at Roses lips but Rose didn't seem to notice as she started talking about the story of when she and some other time agents had accidently found them selves in 34th Century Africa. Instead of the bright red lipstick she'd worn in 1941, her lips were lightly painted over with some dusty pink shiny gloss and her eyelids were covered in a dark smoky eye shadow. Her blonde hair was left down and it fell down to her waist, no wonder Lance mistook her for a teenager. Donna normally would have killed to look like Rose but she did look pretty good today too if she did so her self, which might explain Lance's lingering looks. She wore a black buttoned jumper, grey cotton pants and white converses. Her red curls were tied back into a pony tail so it wouldn't get in the way while she was running from some alien attack like they usually ended up doing and she wore some natural make-up. She wasn't young enough to pull off half the things Rose seemed to like wearing but she looked good anyway. Like an adult.

"I swear six feet tall and with tusks!" Rose's laughter brought Donna back down to Earth. She realized she hadn't been listening to a word Rose had been saying but like it mattered anyway. She'd heard the story the night before.

"You're lying through you're teeth!" the Doctor smirked. Rose shook her head vigorously.

"I'm really not. It turns out the white things are tusks and I mean TUSKS! And it's awoken and not very happy"

"How could you not know it was there?" the Doctor asked with disbelief.

"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, NAKED" Donna was faintely amused when the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Naked?!" he looked and sounded slightly alarmed and confused.

"And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me and then it roars and we are running. Oh my god, we are running! And Brakovitch falls and so I turn to him and say-"

"I knew we should have turned left!" Donna finished, howling in hysterics. The story never ceased to be funny for some reason. Even Lance was laughing which surprised Donna considering the amount time he spent with a stick shoved up his-

"And I was having such a nice day" the Doctor said suddenly and they all turned and looked at him to see he was holding up a news paper with a very familiar face plastered across the front page.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Donna spat.

"No joke Donna – she's the new major of Cardiff. Fancy a trip to the town hall?" the Doctor said and Donna immediately stood up. Rose and Lance, who had no idea what was happening, frowned but after they'd paid for their food, followed them to the town hall. On the way there, the Doctor and Donna explained to Rose everything that had gone down in Downing Street a couple of months earlier. As soon as they walked inside and were standing in the foyer, Rose launched into a speech.

"According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack; we assume a basic fifty seven/fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face-to-face, that'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two, Donna, you're Exit Three, Lance, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?" Donna suppressed a snigger at the look on the Doctor's face. He didn't look impressed by the fact she was taking over.

"Excuse me, who's in charge?" he snapped after Rose had finished. She looked mildly annoyed but refrained from saying what was actually running through her mind.

"Awaiting orders sir!" she hissed sarcastically. Men always thought they run the place, Rose thought irritably. Then again, this one was quite sexy when taking command so she wasn't particulary bothered.

"Right. Here's the plan" he paused and grinned at Rose."Like I said. Nice plan. Anything else?" Donna exchanged a smirk with Rose. Lance looked confused.

"Present arms" she said and they each pulled out their mobile phones. Even the Doctor had one after Donna had spent ages nagging at him to buy one or she wouldn't be able to call him she was in trouble. He'd seen her point. Donna Noble was the flipping poster girl for trouble.

"Ready" said the Doctor.

"Ready" Rose added.

"Ready" Donna agreed confidently.

"Err…ready" Lance muttered, sounding unsure.

"Speed dial?" Rose asked.

"Check" Donna confirmed.

"Okay, see ya in hell!" Rose said, throwing them all a lazy grin before walking off to the right. The Doctor and Donna walked off into two different directions straight ahead and Lance looked around, forgetting what he was suppose to be doing before finally walking off to the left.

The Doctor broke through the doors and into Margaret's office while struggling with the little twerp of a secretary who'd refused to let him see her in the first place because she'd refuse to see him. The Doctor wasn't going have any of that and managed to get through. He ran across the room in time to see her scrambling over the balcony. He headed towards her as he picked up his mobile and phoned the others.

"Slitheen heading north" he told them.

"On my way" Donna told him.

"Over and out" Rose chirped.

"Oh my God!" Lance cried. The Doctor made it to the balcony only to have that little git grab a hold of him and start pulling him back.

"Leave the mayor alone!" he yelled which sounded less like a command and more like a whine. After finally managing to shake the kid off, he followed her off the balcony and ran towards her. She hissed at him and ran forwards with Donna running out of the building and also heading for her and then Rose coming from the other way.

"Margaret!" the Doctor called out in a sing-song voice. She ignored them all and ran past the fourth exit of the building but to her relief, nobody come out from that way, so she was free to escape.

"Who was on exit four?" Rose asked the Doctor and Donna, who came up beside them, panting for her breath. She hadn't run like that since she'd done cross-country in P.E in high school.

"Lance" she gasped just as the man himself ran towards them. Rose glared at him, angrily.

"You stupid son of a-"

"To be fair she isn't exactly going to outrun us is she?" Donna said, cutting Rose off. Margaret grinned as she removed an earring and vanished in a blue light.

"She's got a teleport! That's cheating, now we're NEVER going to get her" Rose hissed and threw a pointed look at Lance.

"The Doctor's very good with teleports" Donna reassured her and sure enough, the Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver and clicked it causing Margaret to reappear, grinning and running straight towards them. As soon as she realized what had happened, she stopped smiling and headed into the other direction, disappearing again. The Doctor clicked the sonic screwdriver again. The same thing happened and then they did it again and again.

"I could do this all day" he grinned.

"This is persecution, why can't you just leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?" Margaret asked, throwing her hands up in the air and surrendering.

"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet" the Doctor replied plainly.

"Well apart from that" she said dismissively.

"Take us somewhere we can talk" the Doctor commanded. This time Margaret obliged and took them back into the town hall, into the exhibition room where there was a model of town with a couple of nuclear power planets in it, stood in the centre. They walked up to it. "So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out, just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station" the Doctor said to Margaret, gesturing at the model. "But what for?"

"A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways" she said tonelessly.

"And it just so happens to be on the rift. Cut the crap" Donna snarled.

"What rift would that be?" Margaret asked with feigned ignorance.

"A rift in space and time. If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go schwwwupboom!" Rose told her.

"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity" the Doctor frowned at the model.

"Didn't anyone notice? Isn't there anyone in London CHECKING out this sort of stuff?" Donna asked.

"We're in Cardiff. London does not care!" Margaret scoffed."The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice…..oh I sound like a Welsh man. God help me, I've gone native" Margaret looked disgusted at the very thought.

"But why would she do that? A great big explosion – she'd only help up killing herself" Lance pointed out. Margaret narrowed her eyes at him.

"She has got a name you know"

"She's not even a she….she's a thing!" Lance spat, eying her with contempt.

"Oh but she's clever" the Doctor grinned and flipped the model over to reveal a giant circuit board underneath. Her expression was as blank as paper. "Fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator? " Rose asked excitedly. Donna gazed at the Doctor, whose expression was a mixture of awe and surprise.

"Couldn't have put it better myself" he said, clearly impressed. Oh great, Donna couldn't help but think. Now there were TWO of them.

"Ooh, GENIUS!" she squealed, examining the object that looked kind of like a surf board. While Rose inspected it, the Doctor's attention was caught by the banner that said Blaidd Drwg. "You didn't build this" Rose said to her.

"I have my hobbies. A little tinkering….."

"No you seriously didn't build this. It's way beyond you!" Rose said, cutting her off.

"I bet she stole it" Lance sneered.

"It fell into my hands" Margaret said coolly.

"Is it a weapon?" Donna asked Rose, who seemed to be an expert on this kind of stuff.

"It's transport. You see - the reactor blows, the rift opens, phenomenal cosmic disaster, but THIS thing shrouds you in a force field, you have this energy bubble, zzhum, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system" Rose explained.

"It's a surf-board!" Lance exclaimed. Donna rolled her eyes.

"No, it's a taxi you prune!"Donna snapped at him. He didn't deserve it but she just found him very annoying at the moment .

"A pan-dimensional surfboard" Rose whispered in awe.

"And it would have worked. I would have surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilization" Margaret hissed bitterly.

"You'd blow up the whole planet just to hitch a lift?" Donna asked with disbelief.

"Like stepping on an ant hill" Margaret said coldly.

"How did you think of the name?" the Doctor suddenly asked, still staring at the banner.

"What, Blaidd Drwg? It's welsh" she answered.

" I know but how did you think of it?"

"Choose it at random, that's all. Does it matter?" the Doctor's brow furrowed as he turned and glanced at Donna.

"Blaidd Drwg means Bad Wolf" he told her. Donna looked haunted for a moment.

"I've heard that before" she whispered. "Lots of times"

"Following us around"

"It's following us around?" Donna asked alarmed.

"Nah it's just a coincidence!" the Doctor grinned, shrugging."Like hearing a word on the radio and then hearing it all day. Never mind, things to do, Margaret we're going to take you home" he said to a scrowling Margaret.

"You mean we actually get to go to raxi…." The Doctor rolled his eyes as Donna struggled with the word."Raxocito..."

"Raxacoricofallapatorious" he snapped. Finally, Donna managed to say it and yelled with joy. The Doctor hugged her but quickly put her down as he remembered what they were doing.

"Take me home and you take me my death" Margaret said, glaring at him.

"Not my problem" he replied, coldly. After they'd all gone back to the Tardis, Margaret had tried to make them all for feel guilty and sorry for her because once they'd taken her home, she would be given the death penalty for all the crimes her family committed in the past. The only one who managed to keep on looking into her icy blue eyes without a hint remorse was the Doctor and that was partically because he'd had nine hundred years of experience and pratice. After a while, Lance asked Donna to go for a walk with him and she agreed, mainly to take the opportunity to assure him their relationship was dead and buried in the past. Margaret also managed to convince the Doctor to take her out for something to eat and Rose wasn't too happy at being left behind.

"You need to keep working" he'd told her.

"Thanks that is so thoughtful, be still my heart" she said sarcastically. He laughed before handcuffing Margaret to him, much to his disgust and walking out of the ship. Margaret didn't miss the chemistry between the two of them and mentioned in on their way out but the Doctor refused to answer any personal questions. When they got into the restaurant Margaret attempted to hurt him twice but he knew her species pretty well and expected everything she threw at him. Meanwhile Donna and Lance stood by a railing looking out onto the beach.

" I'm going out with Trisha Delaney" he told her as if she cared.

"Good for you, it's about time to found someone new. Our relationship was on the rocks for ages, I'm happy for you" Donna replied sincerely. He didn't look to happy about it.

"Do you want to go to a hotel or something?" Lance asked suddenly. Donna glared at him with disbelief.

"Lance, you have a girlfriend. Seriously, why risk messing up a good thing? We we're over a long time ago" she told him softly.

"You're right but what about you? The Doctor doesn't like you that way, Donna; I think we all saw the way he was staring at Rose earlier. He can barely tear his eyes away from her" Lance sneered.

"I know that you idiot. I don't like him in that way, how many times have I got to tell you? Lance, it was a bad idea for you to come and see me. We're barely friends, let alone obviously still have feelings for me since you're willing to ditch you're nice, stable girlfriend for a woman who hates you're guts. Let's just head back" Donna sighed. Lance was about to argue but changed his mind and followed her back down the beach. Just as they were walking back the way they came, there was a sudden rumbling sound. "Is that thunder?" she asked Lance.

"Does it matter?"

"That was not thunder!" Donna cried and started running down the beach. Lance calling after her but she ignored him and left him behind. She had to find the Doctor. At the restaurant. Margaret was still pleading to the Doctor to let her go, that she didn't deserve to die but the Doctor wasn't an idiot.

"In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I'd refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs". The Doctor wasn't even listening to her. He had heard the rumbling at the same time as Donna and his brow was furrowed in concentration as tried to figure out where it was coming from."Doctor, are you even listening to me?" she hissed.

"Can you hear that?" he asked her.

"I'm begging for my life!"

"No, listen, shush" he told her. Suddenly the rumbling started to develop into a bit of an Earthquake and people started running around, in panic. The Doctor got up and pulled Margaret along as they left the restaurant but had to unhand cuffed her so they could run faster. "Don't even think about running away" he warned her dangerously.

"I'm sticking with you" she said, seemingly scared. As they stood in the centre of Cardiff, the Doctor's eyes widened as he looked up at the sky.

"It's the rift. The rift's opening". Inside the Tardis, Rose yelped as sparks started flying out of the console while she was trying to install the extrapolator. She spun around as the Doctor and Margaret entered the shaking ship. "What the hell are you doing?" he yelled at her. Rose look mildly taken back.

"It was the ship, it went crazy!" she replied ducking to miss a spark that just shot out of nowhere.

"It's the rift" he told her, joining her at the console."Time and space are ripping apart! The whole city's going to disappear!"

"Doctor, it's the extrapolator!" Rose said, pointing at the surfboard where sparks continued to fly out of it. "I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine. It's using the Tardis, it can't stop it!". Donna chose that exact moment to run through the doors.

"What is it? What's happening?" she asked right before Margaret ripped a giant green arm out of the human body suit and grabbed Donna by the throat. She started kicking as she hung in mid air.

"Oh, just little me!" Margaret snarled. "One more move and she snaps like a twig"

"I might have known" the Doctor glared at her coldly.

"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it!" she snapped before glancing at Rose."You fly-girl, put the extrapolator at my feet" Rose stared at her. _Fly girl?_ She'd never been called that before. Rose looked at the Doctor, who nodded, and did as Margaret commanded. "Thank you just as I'd planned" she said smugly.

"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station" Donna pointed out in a strangled voice.

" Failing that - if I were to be... arrested... then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours_, _Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to Plan B! To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found... I'm back on schedule... thanks to you" Margaret told them all, highly pleased with herself and put down Donna so she could get onto the extrapolator.

"The rift's going to converse – she'll blow up the entire planet" Rose said to the Doctor, horrified.

"And you with it" she spat."While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back boys... surf's up" suddenly a blinding white light burst out of the console. The Doctor stared at her calmly. She looked slightly alarmed.

"Of course opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart" he told her.

"So sue me" she hissed.

"It's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis, my Tardis. The best ship in the universe"

"I'm sure it's going to make wonderful scrap"

"What's that light?" Donna asked him, partially blind from it.

"The heart of the Tardis. You've opened it's soul" he said to Margaret, who was now staring into the light, dreamily and kind of dazed.

"It's so light"

"Look at it Margaret" the Doctor told her, kind of sounding like a hypnotist.

"So beautiful" she sighed.

"Look inside the light Blon Fel Flotch, look at the light"

"Thank you" Margaret said sincerely before being engulfed by the light and her body suit falling to the floor with nothing inside it. The Doctor ordered Rose to shut everything down and she did so immediately while Donna, joined him by Margaret's body suit.

"What happened to her?" Donna asked him, frowning.

"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic - like I told you, Donna. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts..." he explained before pulling something out of the skin. It was an egg."Here she is!"

"She's an egg?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Regressed to her child hood. Now she can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!"

"Or worst" Rose muttered.

"So does this mean we're going to Raxacoricofallapatorious?" Donna asked him, sounding slightly excited.

"Yes" he answered, pulling down the lever and pressing some buttons.

"So next stop Raxacoricofallapatorious!" Rose said giddily before Donna marched up to the Doctor and slapped him, almost causing him to drop Margaret.

"What did I do now?"

"You insulted me earlier and I didn't have the time to do it then so I was saving it for now" she shrugged. Rose smirked.

"Donna I dare you to go a day without hitting anyone. Same applies to you Rose" he said to them both as he typed in the co-ordinates for Raxacoricofallapatorious.

"What fun would that be?" Donna retorted.

"You don't need to worry about me, lover boy, I haven't hit you yet and I don't plan to unless it something kinky" Rose said huskily and suggestively stroking the Doctor's arm. Donna turned away cringing. Hopefully the Tardis would get them to Raxacoricofallapatorious, sooner rather than later. She'd had just about enough with the flirting. Especially when the most action she'd had was from Lance and that was really saying something about her love-life or maybe just her taste in men.


	11. Deadly game shows

**A/N : For starters, thanks to everyone whose taken the time to review this story, it is greatly appreciated and I always try ****to incorporate suggestions when and if it fits the story line. I offically now have the entire story mapped out in my head so I know how and when I will end it. Hope you like this chapter, I've almost completed my AU of series one! :). **

* * *

The world span as the Doctor opened his eyes and realized he was crouched in what appeared to be a small cupboard. He shook off his dizziness and stood up but as he pressed a hand against the wall, he unexpectedly fell through a door. "Oh my god!" a squeaky voice exclaimed with alarm."I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in here? They never said you were coming!" the voice belonged to a young, blonde haired woman. She ran up to him and helped him onto his feet. He looked at her half confused, half disorientated.

"But what happened I…."

"Careful now ….mind yourself!" she said as he fell down again."Oh that's the transmat. Scrambles you're head – I was sick for days. Are you alright?" she asked, helping him to his feet. "So what's your name then sweetheart?" The Doctor frowned at her for a moment.

"The Doctor I think….er what happened?" he asked groggily.

"You got chosen"

"Chosen for what?"

"You're a house mate. You're in the house isn't that brilliant?" the girl squealed with delight but before the Doctor could answer, a robotic voice that sounded exactly like Davina McCall's echoed throughout the house.

"Would the Doctor please come to the diary room?" the Doctor's brow furrowed and he glanced around the room as if he was waiting for someone to appear but a door opened behind him and the girl smiled at him encouragingly. He walked through the door and sank down onto a red bean bag."You are live on channel forty five thousand. Please do not swear" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"You gave got to be kidding me".

Donnas' head was killing her. She couldn't remember anything, barely her own name. Her bones ached and she had no idea where she was. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a black man smiling down at her. "What the hell happened?"

"It's all right" the man said gently."It's the transmat. Does you're head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"

"Donna. Where's the Doctor?" she asked, her memory slowly coming back.

"Just remember – Do what the android says. Don't provoke it. The androids word is law" Donna narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you yapping on about for goodness sake? What'd you mean Android? Like as in a robot?" Donna demanded.

"Positions everyone thank you!" a woman's voice called out. The man pulled Donna up to her feet.

"Come on hurry up! Steady…steady…" Donna leant on the man for support.

"I was with this man the Doctor his name was. And a woman called Captain Rose. They wouldn't just leave me…." Donna said, a bit frightened as the man led her god knows where.

" That's enough chat! Positions! Final call!" the woman cut off Donna. Donna shot the woman a threatening glare.

"I'll bloody well do what I like. I didn't ask to be here, lady!" she hissed. The woman stepped away from her and gulped."Yeah, you might as well be scared". The man let go of Donna and she found herself standing behind a podium with the guy standing in the one next to her. She instantly realized she was on a some sort of TV set with no sign of the Doctor. "Hold on I'm not suppose to be here!" she cried.

"It says Donna on the podium" the man, whose podium said Roderick on it, pointed at her podium. She looked down and sure enough it said Donna on it. Donna wasn't an idiot and knew that something was wrong right away. What was she doing here of all places? Maybe it was just a freaky dream; she had them all the time, like last night, she dreamt of a handsome dark haired man offering to punch the Doctor in the face for her. How random was that? This must be one of those kind of things again.

"This must be just some wacky dream" she whispered to Roderick who frowned. "Because unless I'm very much mistaken, I think I'm on……" the lights came to life and a robot stood behind a podium placed in the centre of the circle.

"Welcome to the weakest link" the Android said, in a voice very familiar to Anne Robinsons' to Donnas' suprise.

Rose groaned as she finally started to stir. Her eyes shot open and bright lights nearly blinded her. She noticed she was in a plain white room, sat on a chair and in front of her were two female looking robots. Hold on….where was she? ...how did she get here? …and what was her name again?"Lantern jaws are so last year" the purple headed robot spoke.

"Sorry….nice to meet your ladies…but where exactly am I?" Rose asked, standing up and frowning.

"We're giving you a brand new image" she answered.

"Oh hold on I was with Donna and the Doctor – wait a minute is there something wrong with what I've got on?" Rose looked at them alarmed and they examined her clothes with disdain. She wore a short denim skirt, pink sandals with a lilac flower on the toe strap and a lilac button down blouse. Her blonde hair was tied back into a pony like Donna had suggested. She didn't think there was anything wrong with what she had on and judging from the Doctor's expression earlier, neither had he.

"It's all very twentieth century. Where did you get that denim?" the red headed robot said snottily.

"Little place in Cardiff, it's called top shop" Rose snapped.

"Oh design classic" sang the purple robot. Wait a second, Rose recognized those voices. They sounded just like the ones off that show Donna had forced her to watch a couple of nights ago….what not to wear it was called. Oh my God, Rose thought her eyes widening, the purple robot was Trinny and the red one was Suzanna."But we're going to have to find you some new colours. Maybe get rid of that 'bimbo Barbie look' you have going on" Rose looked at them indignantly.

"I do not look like Barbie! I am much hotter than that plastic bimbo for starters!" she hissed.

"Just stand still and let the defabricator work its magic" Suzanna ordered.

"Defabricator?" Rose raised an eyebrow when all of a sudden a light hit her clothing and disintegrated them. "Oh right. Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?"

"Absolutely" the robots squealed. Rose folded her arms across her chest and grinned.

"Ladies you're viewing figures just went up".

Meanwhile back in the house, the Doctor stood by the door trying to unlock it with his sonic screwdriver. "I can't open it" he said to the young woman next to him.

"It's got a deadlock seal. Remember big brother five when they all walked out?" he looked at her blankly."You must remember that!" he didn't say anything, just moved his sonic screwdriver to the mirror next to the door."Oh that's exoglass. You'll need a nuclear bomb to get through that"

"Don't tempt me" the Doctor grunted while the woman started babbling about the outside world and whether she was popular or not. He also found out her name was Lynda with a Y but not with an I because that Linda got evicted for damaging the camera.

"Do people notice me?" she asked, with wide eyes filled with curiosity.

"You're nice, everyone thinks your sweet" he smiled at her sincerely.

"Oh is that right? Nobody's ever told me that before" she said obviously flattered. The Doctor smile grew broader when he suddenly remembered what had happened. Him, Donna and Rose had just been to Raxacoricofallapatorious then they went to Japan 1336 and were laughing in the Tardis when a bright light came through and carried them all away. He told Lynda, who told him it was just the transmat but he knew it was more. He wasn't just a travelling passenger and he wanted to find out what was going on before it was too late but he needed to find his friends in the process.

Back in the weakest link studio, Donna was mouthing off to the producer who was counting down the time they were going to start. "Oi lady, listen, I got here by accident, you hear me? Accident! And if you don't let me go and find my friends this very moment, I will slap your ass silly!" she shrieked like a banshee.

"Just shut up and play the game!" Roderick spat and Donna shot daggers at him.

"Tell me to shut up one more time and I swear you'll regret it" she snarled. Two threats in one minute to two different people, Donna was on a roll.

"Let's play the weakest link!" the Android announced and the producers moved away. Donna felt herself start to panic. What the hell was she doing here? "Start the cloak. Agorax - the name of which basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?"

"Bread" the man across from Donna replied.

"Correct. Fitch - in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"

"Is it... Clavadoe?" the woman next to Roderick asked uncertainly.

"No, Pandoff. Donna, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"

"One hundred!" Donna yelled nervously at the Android. She felt sweat build up in the palms of her hands. When the Android moved on to the next person, a young brown haired man, and he got it wrong, Donna could barely suppress her amusement at the distraught expression on the guys young face. He was acting as if it was life or death, she thought. It was only a flipping game show for crying out loud. Roderick looked at her as if she'd just done something disgusting. What was wrong with the people here?

Rose stood in front of a mirror admiring her self in the new clothes she was wearing. They'd made her change into black satin pants, black boots and a white lacy top. Her hair was now hanging down. She liked It and so did the robots. "Maybe we should add a little colour?" Rose suggested.

"Absolutely not. It makes the colour look cheap and the black look boring. Now let's talk jackets" Trinny croaked moving towards her.

"I liked the first one" Rose said referring to a black leather bomber jacket.

"No that was too much Hell's angel. I think I like the shorter one" Suzanna commented. Rose grabbed the short black leather jacket they were referring to and shrugged herself into it."Look, waist length, nice and slimming, shows off the bum". Rose grinned.

"Works for me"

"Once we've got the outfit, we can look at the face. Ever thought about a little cosmetic surgery?" Trinny asked. Rose frowned at her.

"Why do I need it? I mean I have thought about it but never really-"

"Let's do something cutting edge" Trinny snarled and Rose's eyes widened as the robots took caps off their forearms and revealed two saws.

"Oh shit not again" she muttered.

Meanwhile in the 'weakest link studio' the Android started quizzing Donna about her line of work. "I just travel" she said lightly, not taking it seriously.

"Another way of saying unemployed" the Android hissed. Donna glared at the machine, annoyed.

"Oi, you don't know anything about my life" she snapped. Roderick stared at her in disbelief. Donna chose to ignore him.

"Have you got a job?" the Android asked her. Donna replied no and then the Android started grilling her about why she'd chosen Fitch to leave the show. Fitch burst into tears and the Android turned and looked at her before a beam of light hit Fitch and she was turned into dust. Donnas' eyes widened with shock and she glanced at Roderick horrified. Roderick looked grim.

"What the bloody hell just happened?"

"She was in the weakest link. She got disintegrated" he answered gravely.

"But I voted for her! Oh my God, this is just sick. All of you are just sick!" Donna cried.

"I can't do this!" a young man a few podiums away from Roderick sobbed and ran off like Fitch but the Android hit him and he disappeared too. Donna paled dramatically.

"Don't try to escape. It's play or die" he whispered. Donna felt panic rise up within her while in the 'big brother' house the Doctor was still trying to get out.

"Doctor, they said ALL of the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've got too" Lynda told him.

"Busy getting out thanks" the Doctor replied, pointing his sonic screwdriver at the wall.

"But if you don't obey all the housemates get punished" she told him gently. The Doctor grudgingly stopped what he was doing and followed her into the living room. They sat on a red sofa beside a tall lanky brown haired man and a young black woman. As soon as they sat down, they all held hands, the man grabbing the Doctor's, who rolled his eyes.

"Big brother house – this is Davina Droid. Crosbie, Lynda and Strood – you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eight person to be evicted from the big brother house is……Crosbie!" Lynda jumped up and hugged the black girl – Crosbie – who was in tears. The Doctor looked bored.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Lynda said hugging her. Crosbie cried harder.

"Oh it should have been me…it's not fair Crosbie love" Strood said sympathetically. It took Crosbie, three warnings and ten minutes to get into the lift to the Doctor's amusement. She looked scared and distraught. The lift closed on her and Lynda looked sad as she re-entered the room.

"I don't believe it. Poor Crosbie…." Lynda said sadly.

"It's only a game show; she'll make a fortune on the outside! Sell her story, release a record, fitness video, all of that... she'll be laughing!" Lynda frowned at him for a moment before her and Strood sat back down next to him and watched the screen intensely.

"Here we go" Strood murmured. Crosbie stood in the elevator sobbing.

"What are they waiting for? Why don't they just let her go?" the Doctor asked.

"Stop it, it's not funny" Lynda spat. Ten seconds later, there was a beam of light and Crosbie disintegrated right in front of them. The Doctor sat up, staring at the TV in shock while Lynda explained to him that contestants got evicted from life. He couldn't believe that anybody would chose to go through all of this just to get on TV but Lynda told him they don't. They get chosen randomly. The Doctor frowned and asked Lynda what the other Linda had done to get out of there and she told him damage to the camera, right before the Doctor turned around and did exactly the same thing using his sonic screwdriver.

Back in the 'what not to wear studio' the two robots had defabricated Rose again leaving her naked and weaponless. They pointed the saws at her. "I think you'd look good with a dogs head" Suzanna spat aggressively. Rose stepped back.

"Or maybe no head at all. That would be so outrageous" hissed Trinny.

"Now hold on ladies. I don't want to have to shoot either one of you" Rose said warningly.

"But you're unarmed and naked!" Trinny pointed out. Rose pulled a gun out from behind her.

"But that's a compact laser deluxe!" Suzanna gasped.

"Where were you hiding that?" Trinny demanded.

"You really don't want to know" she said before blowing their heads off.

Donna stood in the weakest link studio panic stricken. If the Doctor didn't find her soon, she was going to get disintegrated unless she won which wasn't very likely at the moment. Roderick, to Donnas' surprise, voted off the smarter woman, telling her he needed to keep her in because she was thick. Donna was highly tempted to slap him but didn't in case she got zapped by the Android. However, Donnas' ears pricked up when Lance mentioned that the prize would be courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation. "What do you mean? Whose bad wolf?" she asked him, eyes wide. The two words that had followed them everywhere. Despite what the Doctor may believe, Donna had a feeling there was more to it than a simple coincidence.

"They're in charge; they run the game station" he answered.

"Why are they called Bad Wolf?"

"I don't know" he shrugged.

In the big brother house, the Doctor jumped up as the Davina Droid ordered him to go to the lift. Lynda watched with wide eyes as he practically ran in. He stood there for ten seconds but as he'd suspected, nothing happened. Then he proceeded to look up at the cameras and announce he was getting out of there. He looked towards Lynda and invited her to come with him. After a bit of persuasion she agreed and jumped into the lift with him. He used his sonic screwdriver to control it and they soon found themselves on floor 56. When they walked out, the Doctor automatically realized where they were. "Hold on, I've been here before" he commented with his brow furrowed. "This is satellite five!" They walked up to another door and he opened it was his screwdriver. They walked through. "No guards, that makes a change. You'd think a big business like satellite five would be armed to its teeth"

"No one's called it satellite five in ages" Lynda told him."It's the game station now, hasn't been satellite five in about a hundred years". The Doctor looked at his watch.

"A hundred years exactly. It's the year two zero-zero/one zero-zero. I was here before. Floor 139. Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then... had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy - gave them a hand - home in time for tea" Lynda smiled at him.

"A hundred years? What you were here a hundred years ago?" she asked skeptically.

"Yep"

"You're looking good on it"

"I moisturize" he smirked and glanced at the sonic screwdriver. "Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy... the place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for? "

"I don't know. I think we're the first contestants to ever get outside" she replied as he scanned a door.

"I had two friends travelling with me. Where do you think they'd be?" he asked her. She then proceeded to give him a list of all the game shows that were played on the different floors, from big brother to stars in their eyes. She also told him about all of the various things that happened during the games. The Doctor looked slightly alarmed."And you watch this stuff?" he asked moving onto the next door.

"Everyone does" she shrugged."Who are you anyway?"

"I'm just a traveler. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life" he sighed.

"So if we get out of here, what you going to do, just wander off again?"

"Quick as I can"

"Maybe I could come with you" she suggested quietly. He smiled at her. "I wouldn't get in you're way"

"I wouldn't mind it you did" he replied."Lynda with a Y. But first of all, we need to concentrate on getting out and to do that you've got to know whose controlling it. Who's in charge of the satellite now?" he asked her. Lynda immediately ran to the other side of the room, pulled down a lever which revealed three huge words on the wall. Bad Wolf Corporation. The Doctor's eyes widened with shock.

"You're lord and masters" Lynda said softly.

Meanwhile, Rose started attaching the defabricator to her compact deluxe. She'd changed back into the black satin pants, boots and the white lacy top. "That a girl got myself a gun!" she grinned at herself and put the gun over her shoulder. She looked down at the two robots bodies."Well ladies the pleasure was all mine which is the only thing that matters in the end" . She ran down a corridor, got into the lift and exited it when it stopped on floor 299. She looked at her wrist watch."Two hearts, that's him, which floor?" she sighed, got back into the lift and pressed a few floors down. She eventually found him on the observation deck with a short, pretty, young girl. Rose's eyes flickered with jealously very briefly before she made her presence known. "Hi there handsome" she said huskily. The Doctor and the girl spun around to face her."Any sign of Donna?" when the Doctor saw her, his face seemed to spread with relief.

"I'm really glad you're alright Rose. Can't you track her down?"

"She must still be inside the games, the rooms are shielded" she watched as the Doctor frantically fiddled with the computer that was stood there beside him."Hurry up, the games don't exactly end happily"

"I know that thanks" the Doctor snapped.

"Here patch this in. It should find her" Rose said gently, passing him her watch."So whose you're new girlfriend, Doctor? Replacing me already?" the Doctor ignored her. Lynda frowned.

"Lynda Moss" she said politely.

"Captain Rose Tyler" Rose said shaking her hand hard. Lynda didn't say anything but Rose knew she was hurting her.

"Captain? I didn't know women could be Captain's?" Rose glared at her annoyed.

"Well they can were I come from Lynda"

"Oh" Rose turned her attention back to the Doctor.

"I ended up in what not to wear. They stripped me naked, too bad you weren't there to see" Rose said flirtatiously. The Doctor tried to ignore her as usual as he continued working on the computer but was having difficulty doing so when she came on so strong. Then the machine started to beep.

"It's not compatible. This stupid system doesn't make sense. This place should be a basic broadcaster. The systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television... this station's transmitting something else" he said, sounding frustrated.

"Like what?" Rose asked gently and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know. This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulating my entire life. It's some sort of trap and Donna is stuck inside it".

The woman herself was wondering where the bloody hell Rose and the Doctor where. She was stuck playing a deadly game of weakest link while they were more than likely off flirting each other to death and not even doing anything about it. She vowed to herself, if she ever got out of here, she'd force the Doctor to take Rose somewhere nice and somewhere Donna could go off relax and maybe have a fling with a purple alien or something. Now that would be something worth telling her granddad about. The Android asked Donna a question which Donna got wrong yet again. She was dreadful, she was going to have to spend some more time in the Tardis library reading up on this kind of boring crap. Now it was only her and Roderick and he was winning. One last question and if she got this wrong. She lost. She got it wrong of course, considering her luck. "Roderick, you are the winner" the Android announced just as the doors to the studio flung open and the Doctor, Rose and some other girl who Donna didn't recognized came running through.

"Donna!" he yelled.

"Stop this game!" Rose cried out, following him in.

"Donna, you are the weakest link" the Android croaked. Donna felt something like fear rush through her. She watched horrified as her friends came running towards her. The Android turn towards them. She was going kill the Doctor!

"I order you to stop this game!" the Doctor demanded angrily.

"Doctor, look out!" she yelled and ran towards them but the Android's ray beamed out and hit her in the back. She instantly became dust. Rose's face paled and she marched up towards the producers angrily, holding her gun out.

"What the hell did you do to her? That was my friend!" the Doctor knelt down and held some of the dust in his hand. He felt numb. Donna had been his companion, his best friend, he'd been responsible for her and now she was dead thanks to him. "Back off!" Rose shrieked at the producer and Roderick. Suddenly a team of security guards barged in and took Rose, the Doctor and Lynda down to a prison where nobody even listened as the security guard spoke.

"Lets do it" the Doctor told Rose and Lynda and they attacked the guards that were watching them and made an escape. They got into the nearest lift and headed towards floor five hundred. The doors opened and the Doctor, Lynda and Rose strode out.

"Okay! Move away from the desk! Nobody try anything clever! Everybody clears! Stand to the sides and stay there!" Rose demanded, holding the gun at them. Nobody hesitated and the staff cleared out, making room for the three of them to walk up towards the thing known as the controller. She was a frail young woman, skinny with icy blue eyes. Her hair was wild and she stared out into space. The Doctor immediately started questioning her but she didn't answer. Just kept repeating numbers.

"She can't answer" a male worker told them. He flinched as the Doctor turned around and faced him, with the gun pointed right at him."Don't shoot!"

"Don't be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot" the Doctor scoffed tossing the gun at him before turning to Rose."Captain, we've got more guards on the way, secure the exists"

"Yes sir" she saluted, winked and then obeyed. The Doctor then began to question the man about the controller. The man told him she was linked to the transmissions and she didn't recognize him because he wasn't an employee. Meanwhile, Rose's device beeped. She frowned and was about to walk into the room before a female worker stopped her.

"You're not allowed in there, it's out of bounds"

"Well h-e-l-l-o, do I look like an outer bounds kind of girl?" she showed off her two guns. The woman gulped and stepped back."That's what I thought". Rose walked into the room and grinned as she saw the Tardis. She walked in and something caught her eye on the monitor. "What the hell?" she muttered before running back out and saw the Doctor looking annoyed at the female worker from before. "Doctor!" he turned and looked at her. "Found the Tardis"

"We can't leave now"

"I know that! But the Tardis worked it out" Rose smirked. The Doctor had no idea what she was going on about, clearly, going from the look of confusion on his face. She suddenly grabbed a hold of Lynda."Lynda, could you please just stand over there for me?" she pointed to an empty area of the room.

"I want to go home" she whined.

"It'll only take a second sweetheart, just do it" Lynda obliged reluctantly."Everybody watching? Okay, three, two, one….." she hit a button and the disintegrator beam blasted out and hit Lynda. She immediately disappeared. The Doctor glanced at Rose horrified.

"You killed her"

"You think?" Rose raised an eyebrow and pressed the button again. Lynda reappeared beside the Doctor looking slightly dazed. The Doctor frowned and stared at Rose for an explanation." It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator - a secondary transmat system" the Doctor smiled realizing what Rose was saying."People don't get killed in the games, they get transported! Donnas' alive, Doctor!" the Doctor laughed and threw his arms around Rose. They hugged and caught up in the excitement, the Doctor cupped Rose's face in his hands and they started to kiss passionately. Five seconds later, Lynda coughed and they finally pulled away and the Doctor's ears went red. Rose, who was used to this sort of thing, looked away arkwardly but didn't appear the least embarrassed or ashamed.

Meanwhile, Donna opened her eyes and found herself on some sort of space ship. She picked herself up off the floor and was starting to wonder how she'd got here when she saw a familiar creature staring at her. Donnas' face paled. They'd gotten rid of the last of them, this was impossible. Yet there it was staring at her. "For goodness sake" Donna hissed."We never quite manage to finish the job" the creature hovered towards her and backed her into a wall. She squealed with horror.

The controller had been taken by her masters after giving the Doctor some numbers that will help him locate her 'masters'. While the Doctor figured out what he was doing, Rose sat at a computer. The male worker walked up to her and passed her a disk. "Look use that. It might contain the final numbers. I keep a log of all unscheduled transmissions" Rose smiled at him flirtily and gave him a once over. He was quite nice looking.

"Nice work, thanks. I'm Captain Rose Tyler by the way" she said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Davitch Pavale" he replied shaking the hand she held out.

"Nice to meet you Davitch Pavale" she winked.

"Flirt on your own time" the Doctor growled."Although I'd prefer you not to flirt at all"

"Is somebody jealous?" Rose teased but he didn't deny it. A few minutes later, after a lot of fiddling with computers and devices, they managed to get a view of what was going on outside. There was nothing but outer space but then the Doctor cancelled out a signal and suddenly there about a million fleets of gold UFO's flying around. "That's impossible!" Rose gasped."I know those ships! They were destroyed!"

"Obviously they survived" the Doctor said in a hushed voice. Rose couldn't help but notice that he looked quite upset.

"Who are they?" Lynda asked.

"Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them" the Doctor said cryptically.

"Half a million what?" Davitch frowned.

"Daleks" the Doctor hissed angrily.

Meanwhile on the dalek space ship Donna stared at the group of daleks that had gathered in the room she was being held prisoner in. The Doctor wouldn't let them get away with this, he'd kill them all. That thought at least gave her some comfort. "ALERT, ALERT WE HAVE BEEN DE-TEC-TED" A dalek croaked to another.

"OPEN COMMUN-I-CATIONS CHA-NEL" another one commanded. Suddenly a screen popped up in the middle of the room with the Doctor's face glaring in on them. Never in her life had Donna be so relieved to see a man especially that one.

"I will talk to the Doc-tor" the third dalek croaked.

"Oh will you? That's nice" he said coolly.

"The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene " it ordered.

"Why's that?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated" Donnas' heart began to race.

"No" he said simply. Donna glared at him through the screen. Oh she was so going to kill space-boy!. She knew he didn't like her slapping him but Donna never thought he'd leave her to die!.

"Explain you're self!" the Dalek shrieked.

"It means no" the Doctor replied, firmly.

"But she will be destroyed"

"No because this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her" he said angrily."I'm going to save Donna Noble from the middle of the Dalek fleet and then I'm going to save the Earth and just to finish off, I'm going to wipe out every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!"

"But you have no weapons! No defenses! No plan!" the Dalek pointed out. As if that had ever stopped him before, Donna thought amused.

"Yeah and doesn't that scare you to death? Donna?" he turned towards her, grinning.

"Yeah, space-boy?"

"I'm coming to get you"

"About bloody time and all!"Donna snapped but she was pleased really. The screen disappeared as the Doctor disconnected it and marched right into his Tardis with Rose following on right behind him.


	12. The Bad Wolf

**A/N : Thanks for all the reviews, they're fantastic! :). End of series one now, finally, I'm so exhausted!. I'll update as quickly as I can as long as you all keep reviewing my story because I've poured all my energy into it!. Hope you like this chapter.**

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The Doctor's threat threw the Daleks into a state of panic. Donna watched them as they surrounded her and stared at her through their eye stalks. "You know the Doctor! You understand him! You will predict his actions!"

"Will I flipping well heck!" she snapped."I won't take orders from stupid little pepper pots"

"Predict! Predict! Predict!" it shrieked hysterically.

"Tardis detected. In flight" another dalek informed them. "Launch missiles! Exterminate!" the first dalek ordered. Donnas' eyes widened.

"The Tardis doesn't have any defenses. You're going to kill him!" Donna yelled.

"You have predicted correctly" it croaked coldly.

"Predict this!" Donna snarled and slapped the dalek's shell as hard as she could but only ended up hurting herself."Bloody hell that hurt" she murmered.

Inside the Tardis, Rose stood with the Doctor at the monitor. "We've got incoming!" she told him as the Tardis collided with two missiles."The extrapolator's working. We have a fully functional force field. Try saying that when you're drunk!" Rose grinned.

"And my next trick" the Doctor muttered. He pulled down a lever and suddenly Donna plus a Dalek appeared in the ship. "Donna, get down!" he yelled. Donna didn't need to be told twice and ducked as Rose destroyed the dalek before it could do anything.

"Long time no see" Donna said after all the chaos had ended. The Doctor gave her a hug.

"I told you I'd come and get you. You alright?"

"Yeah. You?" Donna asked pulling away.

"Not bad" he replied.

"Hey don't I get a hug?" Rose asked, coming towards them.

"Ah, come here" Donna smiled and Rose hugged her before letting go.

"Welcome home"

"I thought I'd never see you again"

"You were lucky" Rose told her, gesturing towards her gun."I was just a one shot wonder. Drained the gun out of all of it's power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk".

"Doctor, you said they were all extinct – how are they still alive?" Donna asked as the three stared down at the purple mutant in the remains of the shell.

"One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space" Rose said, eying the mutant with disgust.

"They went off to fight a bigger war, the time war" the Doctor explained. Rose's eyes widened with surprise.

"I thought that was just a legend"

"I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords. With the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them" Rose looked at him with a mixture of awe and sympathy. " I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing". Donna and Rose could barely miss the tone of bitterness in his voice. Rose walked towards him and held his hand tightly with her own. Donna wondered if anything had happened between the two of them yet, other than the not-so-subtle flirting.

"There are thousands of them now. We could hardly stop ONE_. _What're we going to do?" Donna asked. The Doctor dropped Rose's hand and moved towards the doors.

"No good stood round here chin-wagging! Human race, you'd gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers - let's go and meet the neighbors" he chirped.

"Don't go out there!" Donna said warningly but he didn't listen to her as usual and walked out and was greeted by a hoard of exterminates but the rays didn't reach him. They went out but they stopped at a certain distance and couldn't get to him. Donna and Rose followed him out hesitantly.

"Is that it? Useless! Nul points "he smirked." Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Home world? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions... but I reckon that right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left. And that's fear. Doesn't it just BURN when you face me? So, tell me - how did you survive the Time War?" suddenly, they were all startled by a deep voice that boomed throughout the ship.

"They survived through me". The Doctor, Donna and Rose all looked up to see a giant dalek, towering above them all. The Doctor's eyes widened. Donna and Rose gripped each other's hands.

"Donna…..Captain……this is the emperor of the Daleks" the Doctor said quietly.

"You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek Race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive" the emperor replied frostily.

"I get it" the Doctor snapped.

"Do not interrupt! Do not interrupt! Do not interrupt!" the daleks sang.

"Oh just shut the bloody hell up would you?!" Donna hissed."He's the Doctor and if there is one thing that man can do it's talk so if anyone's going to shut it, it's you!" the Doctor glanced at Donna, impressed. She's officially silenced the greatest threat in the universe, was there no end to her talents?.

"Okay, Doke. Now where were we?" the Doctor said lightly, turning his attention back to the emperor, who went on to explain how the daleks had been building an army out of dead humans and when Donna said they were half human, the daleks screamed at her not to blaspheme which surprised the Doctor and alarmed him at the same time but he also felt a pity for them, they hated being in their own skin. The three of them walked back into the Tardis with the emperor yelling at them in the background. The daleks once again attempted to exterminate them but failed. The Doctor took them all back to floor five hundred of satellite five and the three of them walked out of the ship, the Doctor and Rose holding hands which sparked Donnas' interest but she didn't say anything. Now wasn't the time. Davitch glanced at them as they walked towards him, were Lynda was still standing smiling sweetly at the Doctor to Rose's irritation. "Turn everything up. All transmissions, wide open, full power. Now! Do it!" the Doctor ordered, gesturing to the controls. Davitch instantly obeyed. The Doctor then asked Davitch if they'd contact Earth but all they had done was suspend the TV license. Then the Doctor turned his attention to Lynda. "What are you still doing on board?" he asked, frowning.

" I didn't want to leave you" she smiled. Rose's eyes flashed with something she wasn't used too and she had to stop herself from slapping the young girl. Donna was more than willing to do it for her but for once she decided not to interfere with the Doctor's love life. Not at the moment anyway.

"Dalek plan - big mistake. Because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on - it's obvious. A great big transmitter - this station" Rose stared at him blankly as did Donna and Davitch. "If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it – anyone?" the Doctor looked expectantly at Rose as if she knew the answer. Then it hit her.

"You have got to be kidding me! A delta wave?!"

"Give the girl a medal! A delta wave!" he grinned and they hugged. Donnas' brow was furrowed in confusion.

"What the bloody hell are you two talking about?" they pulled away and looked at Donna excitedly.

"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. Fries your brain - stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed!" Rose explained.

"And this place can transmit a MASSIVEwave! Wipe out the Daleks!" added the Doctor.

"Well get started and do it then!" Lynda cried.

"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about - ooh - three days? How long till the Fleet arrive? "The Doctor asked Davitch.

"Twenty two minutes" he replied tonelessly.

"We've got a force field so they can't just blast us out of the sky but that doesn't mean it will stop them physically invading" Rose explained to Donna, Lynda and Davitch.

"Do they know about the Delta wave?" he asked her.

"They'll have worked it out at the same time. So, if they want to stop the Doctor, that means they've got to get to this level - 500. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, 500 to 495. So, they'll penetrate the station below that at level 494 and fight their way up."

"And who they fighting?" Davitch asked, worry furrowing his brow.

"Us" Rose replied calmly. Donnas' eyes widened.

"Us? What the hell are we suppose to fight with?"

"The guards had guns with basic bullets - that's enough to blow a Dalek wide open"

"Rose, that sounds like a brilliant plan but there's only five of us" Donna pointed out.

"Donna, help me. I need all these wires stripping" the Doctor called out from where he was standing.

" Now that's four of us!" Davitch said, looking slightly alarmed.

"Then let's move it! Into the lift! Isolate the life controls!" Rose ordered calmly. Lynda walked up to the Doctor and smiled at him angelically. Rose wanted to shoot her in the head. Well it looked that way to Donna anyway.

"I just want to say thanks I suppose and I'll do my best" she grinned at him. He grinned back before awkwardly moving to shake her hand. Rose wanted to throttle the girl but Lynda had walked away; Rose took a deep breath and approached the Doctor and Donna.

"Well it's been fun" she laughed. The Doctor gazed at her sadly. "But I suppose this is goodbye"

"Don't talk like that, the Doctor's going to do just watch him and when he does you're going to be coming back to us ALIVE alright?" Donna hugged her."If you don't I'll kill HIM. So if you want his death on you're conscience, you better come back alright?" Rose smiled pecked Donna on the cheek before Donna left them alone.

"Thank you, Doctor for everything. You've changed my life" she smiled weakly.

"You too, Captain" he smirked.

"Just remember, you're worth fighting for" Rose said softly before wrapping her arms around his neck and brushing her lips against his. They kissed for a while before Donna tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, reminding him they had lives to save.

"Be careful" he told her seriously.

"Aren't I always?" she laughed before walking away. Donna looked up at the Doctor concern written all over her face.

"She's going to be alright isn't she?" the Doctor didn't reply, he just knelt down and started working. Rose went down to the floor were all the game show contestants, floor managers and producers had been gathered. She managed to recruit at least thirty odd people to help her fight off the daleks. Back up on floor five hundred, Donna had knelt down beside the Doctor on the floor.

"Doctor…." Donna said slowly, he glanced at her while fiddling with a wire."Couldn't you just use the Tardis and travel back in time and warn them or something?"

"Soon as the TARDIS lands in that second, I become part of events. Stuck in the timeline"

"Yeah thought it'd be something like that" she murmered.

"There is another thing the Tardis could do……it could take us away" he said staring at her. Donna frowned at him. "We could leave, let history take it's course. We go to Marbella in 1989"

"Don't be daft, you'd never do that space-boy" she said gently.

"No but you could ask. Never even occurred to you did it?" Donna didn't look at him. Suddenly something on the computer caught the Doctor's attention."The delta wave's started building. How long does it need?"

"Is that bad?" Donna asked alarmed, leaping to her feet and joining him at the monitor."Okay it's bad. How bad is it?" the Doctor turned, looked at her and grinned to her bewilderment.

"Donna Noble you are a genius"

"Well people have said from time to time…." Donna said, smiling.

"We can do it, use the Tardis to cross my timeline, yes!" Donna watched as he shot off into the Tardis. She followed him."Hold that down for me" he said touching a lever. She obeyed and he ran back out. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the doors and they swung shut. Donna realized immediately that he'd done something stupid like lock her in. She ran to the doors and started banging.

"Oi, space-boy, you're going regret it if you don't open these doors right now!" she shrieked."I will slap you like there's no tomorrow if you do not let me out right now!" but it was too late. The Tardis started humming and the ship dematerialized. Donna started to sob as she realized he was sending her home. How could he do this to her after all they had been through together?. Suddenly a hologram of the Doctor appeared. Donna blinked at it, confused.

" This is Emergency Programme One. Donna, now listen, this is important, seriously, so keep you're gob shut for once. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The Tardis is taking you home " the hologram Doctor explained looking grim. Donnas' eyes flash with annoyance.

"I'm not useless. For once couldn't you bloody well let me take care of myself space-boy?!" she yelled as if he could answer her.

" And I bet you're fussing and moaning now – typical, Donna Noble. But hold on and just listen a bit more, if that's even possible. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do: let the TARDIS die"

"You idiot! I swear I will find a way back and just kill you!" she sneered, half furious, half sobbing.

"Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it; no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all. One thing." To Donnas' shock, the hologram turned and faced her. 'The Doctor' looked her directly in the eyes, stopping her from saying whatever it was she about to say. She gulped. "Have a great life Donna. Do that for me. Thanks for everything" the Doctor faded away as the Tardis came to a halt. She was back, home and she felt her whole body go numb with grief. He might be a big pain the ass sometimes but he was her best friend and she'd cared about him and now Donna was left on Earth while he died a billion light years away along with Rose. She stepped out of the Tardis, to see her granddad running towards her.

"Donna, I knew it was you! There's only one sound like that sweetheart. As soon as I heard it, I came running. I've missed you so much". Donna broke down into a fresh batch of tears and collapsed into her granddad's arms. There was no place like home but at the moment that simply wasn't true.

Meanwhile, a billion years into the future, the Doctor sat working on the floor while speaking to Rose over the intercom. "Donna, I've called up the internal laser codes. There should be a different number on every screen - can you read them out to me?"

"She's not here" the Doctor grunted. Rose frowned.

"Where is she? Don't tell me she's on the toilet, talk about bad timing"

"She's not coming back"

"You sent her home didn't you?" Rose asked with a knowing look on her face.

"Yes"

"Donnas' probably going mad at you right now you know?" she sighed."Well is the delta wave at least ready?"

"Tell her the truth Doctor" the Doctor looked up to see the dalek emperor's face on the screen." There is every possibility that the Delta Wave could be complete, but no possibility of refining it. The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path - with no distinction between Human and Dalek. All things will die. By your hand" it said coldly.

"Doctor... the range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth" Rose said warningly.

"You would destroy Daleks and Humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you_, _Doctor?" the emperor sneered. The Doctor felt a pang of guilt.

"There are colonies out there. The Human Race would survive in some shape or form, but you're the only Daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live. Do you see, Rose? That's the decision I've got to make for every living thing. Die as a Human or live as a Dalek" the Doctor spoke to Rose through the inter com and she could hear the defensiveness in his tone. He was trying to shake off his guilt but Rose knew what kind of man he was and being that kind of man, he'd carry the guilt with him for the rest of his life.

"You sent Donna home, she's safe. Let's keep working" Rose said firmly.

"He will exterminate you!" the emperor roared.

"Never doubted him, never will" she grinned."And at least he kissed me before doing it. It was really good might I add"

"Rose there is a time and a place" the Doctor pointed out."Now you tell me, 'God of all Daleks' - 'cos there's one thing I never worked out. The words 'Bad Wolf' spread across time and space. Everywhere, drawing me in. How'd you manage that?"

"I did nothing" Everything inside the Doctor suddenly froze. If the daleks didn't do the whole bad wolf thing, then who did? There was something else going on.

Donna was stuck in a bloody chip shop with her granddad while the Doctor and Rose risked their lives to destroy Daleks. How flipping fair was that? But in all fairness, her granddad was trying his very best to try cheer her up. But no amount of fatty food and reassuring words would help now. She needed to be up there where the action was and she made that perfectly clear to Wilfred before storming out of there in frustration. Wilfred followed her out and found her sat on a bench in the park. That's when she noticed it. She noticed the writing all over the ground and the walls. Just two words but two very familiar words none the less. Bad Wolf. She leapt up and started smiling. "Donna, what's wrong with ya, sweetheart?" he asked concerned. She laughed lightly, alarming Wilfred.

"The writing on the wall, it's a message!" she beamed.

"It's just graffiti Donna, love" he said gently. She shook her head vigorously.

"It's not just graffiti granddad. Bad Wolf. It's telling me I can get back to the Doctor!" Donna yelled as she started running off. Wilfred immediately went after her. He followed her as she ran inside the Tardis. He watched her as she stared at the controls. "All the Tardis need to do is make a return trip, just reverse" Donna said before explaining to a very confused Wilfred what happened in Cardiff when Margaret opened it up and looked it the heart of the ship.

"But sweetheart if you go back, you could die!" he said worried.

"I know but they're my friends up there granddad. I can't just let them die" Wilfred took one look at his determined granddaughter and knew she wasn't going to back down.

"Fine, let's get this thing open".

Back on Satellite five, Rose had sent Lynda off to the observation deck and was currently battling the daleks using the Android as a weapon. So far it had worked on two daleks but then another two entered and were not as stupid unfortunately. They then went down a level and killed everyone that was hiding in the basement including the arrogant Roderick who had refused to believe in their existence and had naively tried to beg for his life. It hadn't worked. Lynda stood in the deck, horrified. She had seen it happen through the computer. "It killed them all" she whispered, tears filling her eyes. Rose gathered all the people who'd volunteered to help her and they all hid on the floor, waiting for the daleks arrival, with their guns pointed ready, awaiting orders from Rose. Then when the daleks showed up, Davitch and his college were both killed in action as were the other volunteers to Rose's horror. After them, Lynda was the next to die after three daleks flew In front of the window from the outside and broke the glass. Now there was no one left but Rose who was currently running away from three daleks but they'd cornered her. She held her gun and shot at them as much as she could.

"Last woman standing" she cried down the intercom to the Doctor."For god's sake hurry up, finish that thing and kill them!"

Back on Earth, Wilfred had lent a yellow truck from a friend of his. It was the only thing powerful enough to get the Tardis to open up and once it had, Wilfred stared with horror as Donna was bathed in a golden light. Before he could do anything, the Tardis doors swung shut in his face. "Donna!" he screamed.

"Doctor, you have twenty minutes minium" Rose told him, panicked as she was backed into a wall by the three daleks. She took a deep breath and dropped her gun.

"Exterminate" they croaked.

"I kind of figured that" she hissed and didn't scream at all when the green death ray hit her body. She fell to the ground, lifeless. The Doctor had finally finished the device, only for about fifty daleks to enter the room.

"It's ready!" he announced." You really want to think about this. Because if I activate the signal, every living creature will die"

"I am immortal" the emperor declared.

"Do you want to put that to the test?" the Doctor challenged.

"I want to see you become like me_. _Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator!" The Doctor placed his hands on the lever and glared at the mutant dangerously.

"I'll do it" he warned.

"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you - coward or killer?" the emperor snarled. The Doctor tightened his grip on the lever but his face contorted with pain. He couldn't do it, he would never be able to live with himself. It would be Gallifrey and the time war all over again and he refused to do it.

"Coward. Any day" the Doctor said softly.

"Mankind will be harvested because of yourweakness"

"And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?"

"You are the Heathen. You will be exterminated" the emperor hissed. The Doctor shut his eyes and waited for the pain to strike him.

"Alert, Tardis materializing!" one of the daleks in the room croaked. The Doctor eye's shot open and he spun around and to his shock, saw the Tardis appearing. The doors flung open and Donna stood there bathed a golden light. Her eyes shimmered like golden pools. The Doctor's eyes widened with a mixture of awe and horror.

"What have you done?!" he asked scared.

"I looked into the Tardis and the Tardis looked into me" she said softly.

"You looked into the time vortex – Donna nobody is suppose to do that!" he exclaimed, horrified.

"This is the abomination!" the emperor howled.

"Exterminate!" a dalek cried out and shot at her but it bounced off her hand and back into it's gun. The Doctor could not suppress his amazement.

"I am the bad wolf. I create myself. I take the words….." the Doctor watched as Donna used her hand to take the Bad Wolf Corporation letters written on the wall and scatter them around in mid air."I scatter them into time and space" she whispered as the words floated away. "A message to lead myself here"

"Donna you have got to stop this" the Doctor told her urgently."You have the entire vortex running through you're head. You're going to burn"

"Well if you hadn't sent me away this wouldn't have happened" she hissed softly, making it quite obvious, Donna was still Donna, even when she was like a goddess."I want you safe, space boy, don't you get that?. My big-eared Doctor , protected from the ugly sod pretending he's a god". The Doctor wanted to laugh but he seemed to be incapable of anything other than staring at Donna.

"You cannot hurt me I am immortal!" the emperor growled.

"Oh shut it. You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space - every single atom of your existence, and I divide them" Donna hissed, raising her arms out, turning the daleks in the room into golden atoms. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The time war ends". Then the rest of the daleks all turned to nothing and finally so did the emperor. Donna Noble had saved the world.

"Donna, you've done it, now let it go" the Doctor said walking towards her.

"How can I let go of this?" Donna said, starting to cry."I bring life" suddenly, from where she was lay, Rose's eyes shot open. What the hell had just happened? She frowned, got up and started walking towards the lift when she stepped in something a little like sand. She felt it and realized something had happened to the daleks. Rose quickly got into a lift and made her way up onto floor five hundred.

"This is wrong, you can't control life or death!" the Doctor told Donna, desperately trying to get her to listen but she seemed to be unable to control herself.

"But I can. The sun and the moon... the day and night. But why do they hurt...? " Donna sobbed.

"The power's going to kill you and it's all, my fault" the Doctor exclaimed, horrified.

"I can see all everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be" Rose choose that moment to step out of the lift. Her breath caught in her throat. Donna looked like a goddess.

"Donna, what's happened to her?" Rose asked, running towards him.

"She's absorbed the time vortex, she'll die if I don't do something" he said looking panic stricken.

"My head is killing me" Donna suddenly whined.

"Can't you like kiss it out of her or something?" Rose suggested.

"Rose, you're brilliant" the Doctor grinned before turning back to Donna.

"Now this if for your own good. I'm not trying anything, Donna, so please do not slap me". He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her for ten long seconds. After letting her go, she collapsed in his arms. Rose followed the Doctor into the Tardis where he gently placed Donna on the ground.

"Is she going to be okay?" Rose asked worried.

"She should be fine" he answered before glancing at his own hands where his veins shimmered with a golden light. A few minutes later, Donna groaned, opened her eyes and picked herself up off the floor.

"What happened space-boy?"

"Don't you remember?" she glanced at him annoyed.

"That's why I'm asking you dim-wit" she snapped."The last thing I remember is you packing me off back home and then someone singing"

"That's right I sang a song and the daleks ran away" the Doctor grinned. Rose sniggered.

"Don't get clever with me space-boy" she said right before slapping him. Hard. He staggered back but kept his balance by gripping the console."That was for leaving me behind" he spoke again as if Donna had never said anything.

"Donna Noble, Captain Rose Tyler. I was going to take you two to so many places. Barcelona – it has dogs with no noses! Fantastic place you would have loved it!" the Doctor laughed, leaning on the console. Donna rolled her eyes at his lame joke and Rose giggled. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke and it's still funny!"

"Then why can't we go?" Rose asked, frowning.

"Maybe you will and maybe I will but not like this" he replied cryptically.

"You are not making any sense at all" Donna said staring at him.

"I might never make sense again! I might have two heads or no head! Imagine me with me with no head and don't say that's an improvement!" the Doctor said, laughing. Donna smirked, Rose look slightly taken back by his odd behavior."But it's a bit dodgy this process. You never know what you're going to end up with" he said sounding weak. Suddenly he stumbled backwards and clutched his stomach as though he had just been punched. Rose and Donna exchanged concerned looks before moving towards him.

"Doctor!" they both cried.

"No stay back!" he yelled.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Donna asked, panicked. The Doctor winced, clearly in pain.

"I absorbed all the energy of the time vortex and nobody's suppose to do that!" he answered lightly."Every cell in my body's dying"

"Can't you do something?" Rose asked him, looking horrified.

"Yeah, I'm doing it now! Time Lords have this little trick; it's... sort of a way of cheating death. Except... It means I'm going to change. And I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face" he smiled. Donna looked alarmed.

"Don't say that"

"Donna, Rose. Before I go, I just want to tell you both you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic" Donna and Rose looked at each other."And you know what?" Donna and Rose shook their heads."So was I!" he smirked before his whole body burst into golden flames. Donna and Rose watched in shock and surprise as the Doctor changed right before their eyes. Eventually the light dimmed, leaving a tall, thin, good looking, and brown haired man in the Doctor's place, wearing the same clothes at the Doctor. He looked at them and grinned."Hello! Okay-oo. New Teeth, that's weird. So where was I? That's right Barcelona!". Donna walked up to the man and slapped him.

"What the hell have you done with the Doctor?" she growled.


	13. Regeneration

**A/N : I never usually update twice in one day and I wasn't planning on doing so until I got some more reviews but since I'm not going to be updating on X-mas day (too busy opening presents!), I've changed my mind. This one is dedicated to Lady_Clark_Weasley_Books for being so enthusiastic about this story through all of her suggestions and constantly kind reviews.**

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**Previously in changing places…………**

"_Can't you do something?" Rose asked him, looking horrified._

"_Yeah, I'm doing it now! Time Lords have this little trick; it's... sort of a way of cheating death. Except... It means I'm going to change. And I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face" he smiled. Donna looked alarmed._

"_Don't say that"_

"_Donna, Rose. Before I go, I just want to tell you both you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic" Donna and Rose looked at each other."And you know what?" Donna and Rose shook their heads."So was I!" he smirked before his whole body burst into golden flames. Donna and Rose watched in shock and surprise as the Doctor changed right before their eyes. Eventually the light dimmed, leaving a tall, thin, good looking, and brown haired man in the Doctor's place, wearing the same clothes at the Doctor. He looked at them and grinned."Hello! Okay-oo. New Teeth, that's weird. So where was I? That's right Barcelona!". Donna walked up to the man and slapped him._

_"What the hell have you done with the Doctor?" she growled_.

The Doctor took a step back and looked at Donna, shocked. He knew she was going to freak out but had no idea she'd lash out at him."Donna you really need to learn how to control that red-head temper of yours". Donna was going red in the face as she felt her temper flare. The nerve of this rat-face bastard. He'd done something to her best friend and was now skipping around the console panel as if he owned the place."Right" he began. Rose looked at Donna stunned." 6 PM... Tuesday...October... 5006... on the way to Barcelona! Now then... what do I look like? No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me" Donna stared at the obviously insane man standing before her. He ran his fingers through his hair and grinned."HAIR! I'm not bold!"

"Good for you" she snapped.

"Oh - Oh! Big hair!" he exclaimed before feeling the side of his face. His eyes lit up happily." Sideburns - I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner..." he slapped his stomach, to the bemusement of Donna and Rose." I... have got... a mole. I can feel it". Then his eyes fell on Rose."So what do you think?"

"Regeneration?" she asked.

"That's right, how did you know?" he looked impressed.

"I heard of it back home but I reckoned it was just a legend" she said seemingly awestruck.

"What the hell? Who is this guy?" Donna demanded. The Doctor's grin faded and he felt slightly disappointed with Donna even though she had no idea what regeneration was unlike Rose, who seemed a little stunned but fine with it.

"He's the Doctor" Rose told her. Donna shook her head and glared at him aggressively.

"Don't be daft, He is not the Doctor. Where is he? What have you done with him?!"

"You saw me. I changed right in front of you!"

" I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something. There is no fooling Donna Noble"

"Donna that is the Doctor" Rose said calmly before turning to him."And don't worry, Doctor, you look good. Sexy as always" Rose winked and he didn't even blush.

"You too captain" he smirked. That confirmed Donnas' worst fears. The Doctor had been replaced by a flirty, skinny, twit of a man!

"Oi, she's taken" Donna hissed."And if you don't give my friend back to us, I swear, I will slap you harder than you could ever imagine!" the Doctor's eyes widened with fear and he gulped.

"Donna it really is me. I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me"

"I don't believe you" the Doctor felt slightly irritated but it was really his own fault. He should of explained regeneration to her before now. But he figured he had a long wait. He walked towards her and gripped her hand with his own.

"Then how could I remember this? Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies.... oh... _... _such a long time ago. I took your hand... I said one word... just one word, I said... RUN" A tear escaped Donnas' eye and dripped down her cheek. This man might be the Doctor but he'd still changed into something new. Something different. She didn't know him at all.

"Doctor" she whispered. He smiled at her warmly

. "Hello. And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running... One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives" Donna stared at the Doctor as he started hopping around the console room like a mad bunny rabbit. Rose started sniggering but Donna was in no laughing mood.

"Can you change back?" she asked. The Doctor looked at her, slightly crestfallen.

"Do you want me too?"

"Yeah"

"I don't!" Rose said cutting in quickly. The Doctor smiled at her before turning back to Donna.

"I can't change back, Donna. Would you like to leave?"

"Do you want to me leave?"

"No" he said quickly."But it's you're choice" Donna still looked upset so he walked towards the console panel and sighed." Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London... Chiswick... ah... let's say the 24th of December. Consider it a Christmas present. There"

"I'm going home?" she asked.

"Up to you. Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast-- no, Christmas! Turkey! Although... having met your mother... nut loaf would be more appropriate" the Doctor's joke about her mother's cooking didn't down to well, especially when Donna marched up to him and slapped him for the second time in that new body of his.

"Don't bloody well insult my mother, space-boy. Only I'm allowed to do that" she snapped.

"You called me space-boy!" the Doctor pointed out, grinning.

"Hey, there's something we haven't done yet in you're new body…….well in either bodies really but that's not what I was thinking. For once. Come here handsome" Captain Rose purred before pulling the Doctor to her and brushing her lips against his own. Donna stood watching and could barely believe Rose could accept the new Doctor that easily. Donna sighed before the Tardis suddenly started rocking really hard, causing Donna to go flying to the railing on the other side of the room and the Doctor and Rose's kissing was interrupted from the sparks that flew out of the console.

"Learn to bloody fly you're ship!" Donna growled from the ground. Rose picked herself up and her eyes widened when she saw the yellow glow leaving the Doctor's mouth. He then proceeded to fall to the ground in pain. She ran to his side and kept hold of him. Donna joined her a few seconds later.

"What's happening?" Rose asked alarmed.

"My regeneration's going wrong" he pulling himself up. Then a grin lit up his face."We're going to crash land!"

"That's not usually a good thing moron!" Donna shrieked as her and Rose clung to each other for support."You are going to kill us!"

"Hold on tight! Here we go!" he told them."Christmas eve…….."


	14. A Merry Christmas

**A/N : Thanks to everyone for reviewing and reading my story so far! it's greatly appreciated :). Oh and since I'm on the Christmas episode, I'd like to wish a very merry Christmas to everyone. **

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Wilfred sat staring at the red square shaped present he'd bought for Donna for Christmas even though he didn't think it was very likely she'd show up. He felt something a little like grief threaten to overcome him but he somehow managed to choke it back like he had been doing for the past few months since Donna had disappeared to find her Doctor friend. He sighed when suddenly he heard the sound of a very familiar engine. Sylvia walked in and exchanged a look with him before they both ran out of the house and into the direction it was coming from. They looked up into the sky to see the Tardis banging into several buildings before eventually landing and narrowly missing a dustbin. "Donna!" Wilfred cried and beamed at Sylvia."See I told you she'd come back to us!"

"Shut up dad!" Sylvia snapped. They watched as the Tardis doors swung open and a tall, thin, brown haired man walked out rather oddly.

"Here we are then. London, Earth, the solar system we did it!" the man grinned, approaching them."Wilf, Sylvia!" the man put his arms around the pair of them." Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on... Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush... OH! I know! Merry Christmas!" the man then proceeded to collapse onto the ground. Wilfred and Sylvia looked at each other bewildered before the doors swung open and a blonde girl ran out followed by Donna.

"What happened? is he alright?" Rose asked kneeling down beside him.

"I don't know he just keeled over, sweetheart" Wilfred told her."And who are you? Who's he? Where's the Doctor? Donna, are you going to explain anything?" Donna looked at them startled as if she'd only just realized where she was.

"Oh right, well she's my friend Captain Rose Tyler and that man there IS the Doctor"

"What do you mean the Doctor? Doctor who?" Sylvia demanded.

"He's the same man you and granddad meet months ago. Now we need to get him into the house and onto my bed or something because he's ill" Donna replied and nobody asked anymore questions or even spoke until the Doctor was tucked up, nice and cozy in Donnas' single bed. Rose sat beside it, holding his hand and stroking his forehead with a damp cloth. Wilfred handed Donna a stethoscope. "Where did you get that?" she asked, frowning.

"Oh I've had it for donkey's years" Donna raised an eyebrow before joining Rose in the bedroom. She passed Rose the stethoscope and she pressed it against his chest.

"Both working" Rose announced. Donna let out a breath of relief that she didn't even know she'd been holding.

"What do you mean BOTH working?" Sylvia said marching into the bedroom.

"He's an alien sweetheart" Wilfred told his daughter.

"Don't be daft. He's not an alien and he certainly doesn't have two hearts!" she scoffed.

"He does!" Donna snapped.

"Anything else he has two of?" Sylva asked alarmed. Donna looked disgusted, Rose grinned.

"I'll find out soon, hopefully"

"Rose he's not even awake; he can't hear you so you don't need to flirt!" Donna hissed.

"I was just saying" she murmured. Donna got up and followed her mum and granddad out of the room, leaving Rose and the Doctor alone. A few minutes later, Donna found herself sat on the coach in the Noble's living room, with her granddad sat next to her on her right and her mother on the armchair on the left. Three cups of tea, that Sylvia had made, sat on the coffee table.

"So how can he go changing his face? Is it a new face or a new person entirely?" Wilfred asked her. Donna looked annoyed, tired and frustrated.

"How am I, suppose to know?" she snapped, highlighting her bad mood."The thing is I thought I knew him. I thought we were friends and now he goes and does this. Stupid space-boy, I should of known really"

"What that he'd change his face?" Wilfred frowned.

"No! That he would forget to mention something important like that. I mean he could of at least said, where to next Donna? Oh by the way if we just happen to get into a great deal of danger with oversize pepper pots and may cause me to end up bursting into flames and turning into a new person, don't worry Donna, it's still me" Wilfred looked taken back at Donnas' outburst. They sat in silence for a while before Sylvia picked up the remote, turned on the TV and put on the news. To Donnas' surprise, Harriet Jones was on, speaking at some kind of press conference."Is that Harriet Jones?"

"She's prime minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week off better now. They're calling it 'Britain's golden age'. Keep saying how my Donnas' met her" Wilfred said, looking at Donna proudly.

"Did more than that. Stopped world war three with her. Harriet Jones…." Donna said thoughtfully before watching the TV and hearing Harriet go on about some kind of space program. They had launched a satellite out into space apparently. Donna listened with intrigued before Rose entered the room.

"Hey, Donna I'm getting a bit bored. Fancy going out?" she asked. Wilfred saw Donna smile for the first time that morning and watched as the two women walked out of the house. They walked down a busy London street towards a market place, crowded with late Christmas shoppers.

"So how do you really feel about the Doctor's new body?" Donna asked Rose who was looking at a mobile phone case on a mobile stall in the busy market they were now walking through.

"He's very sexy although I don't think the leather jacket suits him at all maybe if It was-"

"Rose!" Donna cut in."How can you, be so alright with this? It's like someone's died" Rose looked at her compassionately.

"Donna he was dying. He didn't have any other option besides he looks younger and cuter. I like him like this"

"That's because you're sleeping with him" Donna pointed out. Rose smirked.

"Yeah, I wish. Unfortunately we haven't gotten quite that far yet"

"Okay, I didn't mean to start this conversation up. Its bad enough I have to watch you and space-boy eye each other up and flirt every ten seconds. Let's just forget about aliens and let Christmas be Christmas okay?"

"I suppose. What do you think the Doctor would like?" Rose asked as they continued walking.

"Oh I can think of _something _he would like from you"she murmured."I know what I'm getting him anyway beside's a slap. He just loves his bananas" Donna turned to glance at Rose to see she wasn't standing beside her. She was a few feet behind her and was squinting at something. Donna turned to see what she was looking at and saw a group of masked Santa's playing trumpets. Suddenly they stopped playing and to Donnas' alarm, the trumpets turned into flame throwers and they were staring straight at Donna and Rose.

"It's us! They're after us!" Rose yelled as she and Donna ducked behind a nearby stall just as the Santa's blasted at them. They quickly ran towards the nearest taxi and got in, leaving the Santa's behind.

"They're after the Doctor" Donna said, gasping for breath.

"Obviously. Now phone you're granddad". Donna was already dialing in the number when Rose said that but the number was engaged. Her stupid mother was on the phone as usual.

"It's engaged" Donna said exasperated."Mum get off the bloody phone!" Donna turned and looked at Rose worried."What the hell do you think they are?"

"I've got no idea, all I know is that they are us for something and the only thing I can think of us is the Doctor, who is still fast asleep!"

"Great, he barely ever sleeps when we're travelling but he picks tonight of all nights to take a nap. Perfect bloody timing as usual space-boy!" Donna growled.

"Donna, rant about the Doctor later alright? We haven't got the time right now" Rose snapped as the taxi pulled up outside the Noble's house. They got out and walked right through without bothering to knock. Sylvia was indeed on the phone which came as no great suprise to Donna.

"Mum get off the phone it's not safe" she snatched the phone out of her mother hands and hung up. Wilfred entered the room at that same moment."We've got to get out of here- were can we go?" Suddenly a small, neatly decorated Christmas tree caught Donnas' eye. "Mum, granddad, where did you get that Christmas tree?"

"We thought it was you" Wilfred answered.

"I've only just returned to Earth. How could it be me?" she pointed out .

"Then who was it?" Sylvia asked before they all turned and watched in surprise and horror as the tree lit itself up and started spinning around.

"You have got to be joking" Donna muttered before tree started speeding up and heading towards them."Mum, get granddad out! Me and Rose will get the Doctor!" Rose grabbed Donnas' wrist and the two of them ran upstairs while Sylvia and Wilfred exited the house. The tree quickly followed them up the stairs, to their alarm and they slammed Donnas' bedroom door shut as they walked in.

"Donna, shove some things up against the door!" Rose yelled. Donna did as she was told and pushed her wardrobe in front of it before grabbing a chair and pushing that towards the door too. Rose grabbed the Doctor's sonic screwdriver from his jacket and pointed it at his head but it didn't do anything.

"Rose, what the hell are you doing?!" she shrieked right before the Christmas tree broke through the door, the wardrobe and the chair."Doctor, get you're lazy ass out of bed and help us!" Donna screamed and ran to the side of the bed where Rose was knelt."I swear I will kill space-boy if we get killed by a Christmas tree of all things!" Rose started panic as it came towards them.

"Help me" she whispered. The Doctor immediately shot up, grabbed his sonic screwdriver, pointed it at the tree causing it to explode. Donnas' mouth fell open in shock, Rose grinned. "Remote control. But whose controlling it?" he asked, getting up.

"Well if we knew that, we wouldn't be asking for you're help!" Donna snapped and the three of them walked out onto Donnas' bedroom balcony, where they saw three Santa's glancing up at them."Where's mum and granddad?" Donna asked, alarmed.

"We're in here" Wilfred said as him and Sylvia joined them.

"Who are they?" Rose asked the Doctor, referring to the Santa's.

"Pilot fish" the Doctor muttered."They're just pilot fish" suddenly the Doctor fell backwards into Donnas' doors. They immediately rushed to his aid.

"What's wrong?" Donna brow furrowed in concern. He looked at her and Rose, sweating and panting for breath.

"You woke me up too soon, I'm still regenerating, I'm bursting with energy" they watched as yellow glow floated out of his mouth. "You see? The Pilot Fish could smell it. A million miles away. So they eliminate the defense -- that's you lot -- and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year— " he lunged forward and groaned before falling back against the rail."I'm having a neuron implosion" Donna frowned.

"A neuron what?" he groaned again and she looked at him, slightly frantic."Space-boy, what's going on? What do you need? TELL me what do you need?"

"I need-"

"Say it! Come on! Spit it out!" Donna demanded.

"I need-"

"Painkillers?" Donna suggested.

"I need-" he tried again but she cut him off once more.

"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I don't know-- Pepto-Bismol? Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E? Is it food? _Something_ simple? Uh-- a bowl of soup? A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich? "

"I need you to shut up!" he snapped. Donna glared at him.

"Oi, want a slap space-boy?"

"If there's pilot fish – pi-pi-pilot fish….." the Doctor ignored her threat and continued trying to warn them. Rose looked at him concerned."Something's coming" he finally spluttered before collapsing into Rose's arms. After putting him back to bed, Donna did some research on her laptop and discovered pilot fish were tiny, scavenger fish that came along before the Shark, which meant the Doctor was trying to warn them that something bigger was going to come along. Then Rose hacked into the military and discovered that a big space-ship was heading there way, setting Donna off into a rant about how she couldn't even enjoy Christmas anymore without some sort of alien attack. For the rest of the night, Rose sat beside the Doctor's bed, whispering stuff into his ear. Dirty, no doubt about it, Donna thought with disgust as she sat on the other side of his bed.

"The old Doctor wouldn't do this" Donna suddenly sighed. Rose glanced at her startled. "He'd wake up, act like a grumpy sod and then save us all"

"He'll wake up Donna" Rose said with a shaky smile."He has too". The next morning, Donna, Rose, and Sylvia walked out of the house to see a big rock-like space-ship hovering over London. On the news it had said half of the world's population had gone onto the nearest rooftops and looked as if they were about to jump. Unfortunately Wilfred was part of that population and nothing they had tried had prevailed in bring him down so he was still on top of their house, staring into space, completely brain dead.

"There no one to save us anymore" Donna muttered before they walked back inside. They all sat in the living room and watched Harriet Jones give a speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen... if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech, I'm afraid that's been cancelled. Ladies and gentlemen - this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request: Doctor. If you're out there... we need you. I don't know what to do. But if you can hear me, Doctor... If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him... the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us" Donna and Rose exchanged looks before turning off the TV.

"We need to take the Doctor to the Tardis" Rose said grimly. Donna agreed so they went upstairs and pulled his body down the street and into the blue box. Donna, being Donna, insisted on bring a cup of tea with her. They sat inside staring at the monitor. "No chance you could fly this thing?" Rose asked Donna casually.

"No, it's been wiped out my head and if we tried it again the entire universe might implode" Donna answered.

"So there's nothing we can do" Rose sighed.

"Rose, trust me I really want to help and save the world but without the Doctor, we're completely stuck"

"Yeah, I suppose we are" They sat in silence for a few moments before Donna spoke again.

"I've been meaning to ask you something. How did you survive the daleks back on satellite five?" Rose looked at her surprised by the question before glancing away again awkwardly as if it was something she'd rather not talk about which was weird since she was willing to talk about almost everything. And that meant EVERYTHING.

"I'm lucky that's all" she finally answered. Donna knew that wasn't the truth but she decided not to press her. Instead she decided she'd go check on Wilfred, who was still on the rooftop. She put her tea down on the bench she was sitting on and walked out of the ship. Inside the Tardis, Rose heard Donna scream when she walked out. Frowning, she stood up, accidently knocking over Donnas' tea on her way out and discovered the reason why Donna was screaming. The Tardis had been taken inside the ship.

"Donna!" Donna turned around and saw Harriet Jones heading towards her.

"Harriet" the pair hugged as if they were long lost relatives. Rose raised an eyebrow. "This is my friend Captain Rose Tyler" Donna said introducing Rose to Harriet.

"She's a Captain? Where's the Doctor?"

"Yes she is and he's not here" Donna replied grimly.

"The red girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore she speaks for you're planet" a young man translated the alien's words from beside them. He's quite cute, Rose couldn't help but notice.

"But she can't!" Harriet gasped standing protectively in front of Donna.

"Yeah I can" she said, taking a deep, breath and stepping in front of them all.

"Don't you dare!" Rose hissed but Donna went ahead and ignored her.

"They'll kill you" Harriet cried, distressed.

"Never stops him" she answered calmly and faced the alien in a skull-like mask in front of her." I, um... I address the Sycorax according to... article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorious, and um... the Gelth Confederacy... A -- as uh... sanctioned... by the Mighty Jagrafess... and... Oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! In peace... ." Rose shock her head and looked up at the ceiling. Donna was going to get herself killed with that huge mouth of hers. The aliens., known as the Sycorax, started laughing hysterically.

"You are very, very funny and now you are going to die" the man translated.

"Leave her alone!" Harriet ordered, stepping forwards.

" Did you think you were clever with you're stolen words? We are the Sycorax, we astrid the darkness"

"I don't care who you are, mate, you touch me and I swear I will slap you" Donna hissed.

"Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best you're planet can offer as a champion, then you're world will be gutted" Donna raised her eyebrow as the man repeated what the alien said. Something wasn't right. Then it hit them all, that the Sycorax had started speaking English! "Hold on that's English!"

"If we can hear English" Rose said staring at Donna.

"And it's being translated" Donna added. They both turned and looked at the Tardis."That must mean…." The doors flung open and the Doctor stepped out as if he owned the place, dressed in his green striped pajamas and navy blue robe. He grinned, two dimples creasing his smile.

"Did you miss me?" Rose's eyes lit up and Donna felt something a little like relief. The Sycorax leader, roared with anger and got out his electric whip, attempting to strike the Doctor but the Doctor simply caught it and snapped it into two."You could have someone's eye out with that" Donna sniggered.

"That's more like it, space-boy"

"Now you" he said pointing at the Sycorax."Wait right there, I'm busy" the Sycorax stared at the Doctor incredulously as the Doctor approached Donna and Rose."Donna, hello! And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, blimey it's like 'this is you're life'!" he flashed them another grin."All I needed was a good cup of tea ! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses... Now... first thing's first... be honest. How do I look?"

"Like a skinny twig" Donna said truthfully. He ignored her and looked at Rose who immediately started batting her eyelashes as always when she was talking to the Doctor. Or any guy in general.

"Very handsome" she cooed, stroking his chest with her hands. Donna didn't need to look at him to know that he was enjoying it.

"Am I ginger?" he asked them.

"No" Donna replied, feeling her own red hair.

"Damn, I've always wanted to be ginger. Look at Donna; I'd love to have that colour hair" Donna smirked."And you, Donna Noble, fat lot of good you were - you gave up on me-- oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude" Donnas' eyes flickered with annoyance. "Rude and not ginger"

"I'm sorry – who is this?" Harriet asked, confused.

"He's the Doctor" Donna answered.

"What happened to my Doctor? Or is it just a title that's just passed on?" the Doctor was getting impatient with having to explain who he was.

"I'm literally him. Same man, new face – well new everything" he shamelessly winked at Rose at the last part. Donna cringed. It was embarrassing.

"But you can't be" she protested. The Doctor then went on to explain how they were trapped in Downing Street and all she was scared about was the welfare of her mother."Oh my god!" she gasped.

"Did you win the election?" he asked politely.

"By a slight majority" she smiled.

"If I might interrupt!" the Sycorax growled.

"Oh yes sorry big fella" the Doctor said, turning back to the alien.

"Who exactly are you?" the Sycorax leader narrowed it's eyes at him.

"That's a very good question"

"I demand to know who you are!!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" the Doctor yelled back at the leader, who looked offended. Donna suppressed a laugh." See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I-- I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?" he looked at Donna. She didn't know about funny but he was giving her a run for her money in the gob department."Sexy?" this time he smirked at Rose.

"Hell yeah" Rose muttered under her breath but Donna had the misfortune of overhearing. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling in dispair. It was beyond annoying for her to have to stand around and listen to them twenty four seven, even when she trying really hard not too.

"Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. Maybe even more so than Donna over there" Donna scowled at him. The Doctor then walked over to where a red button was sitting. The one that seemed to be controlling all of the people on the rooftops. " And how am I going to react when I see this? A great big threatening button. A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right? Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" he opened it up and to Donnas' disgust, stuck his finger in it and then licked the finger." And what've we got here? Blood? Yeah, definitely. Blood. Human blood. A Positive. With just a dash of iron. Ahh. But that means... blood control-- Blood control! Oh! I haven't seen blood control for years! You're controlling all the A Positives!" Donna and Rose exchanged a glance while the Sycorax leader glared at him, angrily. The Doctor moved closer to the button." Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. 'Cos... I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed... then I just want to do this" they all stared in horror as he pressed down on the button.

"No!" Harriet shouted. But it was too late.

"You killed them all!" the translator exclaimed, alarmed.

"What do you think big fella? Are they dead?" he turned and questioned the Sycorax.

"We allow them to live" it grunted. Donna and Rose watched as the Doctor somehow ended up being challenged to a sword fight. They all moved onto the top of the ship to watch. As the fight started, the Doctor stumbled over and the Sycorax went to stab him.

"Look out!" Donna cried and the Doctor ducked quickly.

"Oh yeah that helped. I would never of thought of that otherwise" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Donna glared at him.

"Oi, I was only trying to help space-boy!" Eventually the fight came to a climax with the Doctor's arm being chopped off to everyone's alarm but when he stood back up again he began yapping on about regeneration energy and his arm grew back right there on the spot. The Doctor ended up winning the swordfight but the Sycorax leader tried to kill him anyway when he wasn't looking and the Doctor threw a orange he happened to have in his pocket at the button on the ship, which then moved and sent the leader falling to his death off the ship.

"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man" he'd muttered, annoyed. When they went back into the main part of the ship, the Doctor warned the Sycorax to leave. Now they were all standing on the street waiting for the ship fly off.

"Go and don't come back!" Donna yelled gleefully.

"Yeah, get lost!" Rose agreed.

"My Doctor" Harriet said to the Doctor, warmly before hugging him.

"Prime Minister" he smiled. While Harriet asked him if there were anymore aliens out there, Wilfred and Sylvia came running towards them still in their pajamas. Wilfred threw his arms around Donna, happily.

"Awww I'm so glad you're alright granddad"

"Bloody aliens!" Wilf smirked.

"Oh my god that's the prime minster!" Sylvia gawped. At that exact moment, the translator approached Harriet, who was a now away from the Doctor, who was currently shaking Wilfred's hand.

"That was Torchwood. They say they're ready" Harriet looked at the Doctor before turning back to the man in front of her. She looked grim.

"Tell them to fire" Donna, Rose and the Doctor were all laughing just as they looked up in the sky and a green beam hit the ship, shattering into a thousand pieces.

"What the hell was that?!" Donna gasped. Rose narrowed her eyes at Harriet Jones before the Doctor stormed up to her, furious.

"That was murder!" he hissed.

"That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago" she replied simply. The Doctor turned away from her and whispered something into Adam's ears. Harriet started shaking the poor man, demanding to know what he said.

The Doctor stood in this Tardis wardrobe with Rose a few hours later. Harriet Jones was currently trying to cool down rumours that she was unfit to be prime minister and Rose believed it served her right. She had made all humans look bad that day from the foolish thing she'd done. Rose couldn't blame the Doctor for being angry.

"Definitely no leather "she said firmly as he held out his old jacket.

"How about this?" he asked, pulling out a brown pinstripe suit. A slow smile spread onto her face.

"That's perfect; you'll look just James Bond. All smart and sexy" she purred. The Doctor grinned and she walked off, leaving him to change. A couple of minutes later, he joined the Noble's for Christmas Dinner and Rose was all over him, much to Donnas' dismay. When it started snowing, they all walked out and stared up at the sky. The Doctor and Rose stood there holding hands and Donna approached them hesitantly. She didn't want to be witness to another one of their flirt fests.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked casually.

"Back to the Tardis, same old life" he replied smiling at her.

"Just you and Rose?"

"Why don't you want to come?"

"Yeah!" Donna said quickly.

"I just thought because I'd changed….."

"Yeah I thought because you'd changed maybe you wouldn't want me"

"Donna things just wouldn't be the same without you in the Tardis beside me, criticising my driving skills and slapping me every time I say something" he smirked.

"You're a lot less grumpy now" Donna noted.

"Thanks alot" he murmured.

"You're never going to stay are you?" Sylvia sighed.

"There's still so much to see" Donna answered. Sylvia didn't bother saying another word about it, she just wanted to enjoy the time she had with her but it didn't mean she was over the moon about her only child, galavanting across space and fighting aliens. When was she going to meet a nice man and settle down? never by the looks of it. The Doctor wrapped one arm around Rose, who snuggled into his chest quite happily and another round Donna, who wasn't so welcoming but was cold so she accepted it anyway. They stared up at the stars, not knowing what they were going to see next but looking forward to it.


	15. Posessed

**A/N : Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to review my previous chapters, it's truly appreciated as usual :) **

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The morning after the disastrous Christmas they had had, Donna packed some fresh clothes and stood outside the Tardis saying goodbye to her granddad and mother. After kissing and hugging them for the one hundredth time, she walked into the ship where she nearly had heart failure at the sight of the Doctor and Rose making out on the captain's chair. She stood frozen for several minutes before coughing. They immediately pulled apart and the Doctor flushed, embarrassed. Rose didn't look the slightest bit ashamed as always. "So, where to? And it better be somewhere good space-boy, somewhere were we can have, you know, fun for once"

"Yeah of course, I have just the place in mind" he said brightly, moving across the console panel. Donna wanted to laugh at this new Doctor's way of moving. He leapt all over the place like he was Billy Elliot or something while the old Doctor just stormed about moodily.

"So where are we going?" Rose asked, fastening the buttons of her pink jumper back up from where he'd clearly undone them. Donna tried not to picture it.

"Further than we've ever been before" the Doctor grinned, holding their hands tightly as the Tardis began to move. Donna slapped his hand off her own. He looked wounded.

"Stop it, you know I don't like hand holding" she cut him off before he could say something."Other than when it's life threatening situations and I need you pull me along"

"I love the hand holding" Rose sighed dreamily. Donna rolled her eyes. Finally, after what seemed like forever, to Donna anyway, she just couldn't stand the loved-up, doey eyed couple she was stuck with, they finally reached their destination and the three of them strode out of the Tardis and on to a hill that had a view of the futuristic city in front of them.

"It's the year five billion and twenty three….we're in the galaxy m87 and this is new Earth" the Doctor announced. Donna and Rose smiled at the sight around them. It was simply beautiful.

"That's just…that's" Donna stuttered, unable to put it into words.

"Donna Noble speechless? Now I've seen everything" the Doctor smirked before a hand met his cheek and sent him stumbling backwards.

"Ow, that hurt!" he groaned.

"This is amazing" Rose breathed, ignoring the two behind her.

"What's that smell?" Donna asked, sniffing.

"Apple grass!" the Doctor grinned.

"Apple grass! That's beautiful!" Donna exclaimed, looking amazed.

"Oh I love this. Can I just say, travelling with you, I love it" Rose said to the Doctor and they both smiled at each other. Donna stared at them. Okay, there was definitely more than flirting going on between them now.

"Come on!" he laughed and the three of them ran to a spot and lay down beside each other. "So, the year five billion -- the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted" the Doctor reminded Donna and explained to Rose.

"That was my first trip!" Donna beamed.

"So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up -- oh, yeah, they get all nostalgic -- big revival movement... but find this place! Same size as the Earth... same air... same orbit... lovely! Call goes out, the humans move in!"

"So what's the city called?" Rose asked him, excitedly.

"New, New York" he replied. Donna arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah right"

"It is, it's the city of New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original. So that makes it New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New ,New, New, New, New, New, New York" Rose stared at him.

"What?"

"You're just so different" she sighed.

"Yeah, like he has normal size ears" Donna agreed.

"New, New, Doctor" he said ignoring Donna.

"Can we go and visit New, New York – so good they named it twice?" Rose asked, getting up. Donna and the Doctor picked themselves up after her.

"Well – I thought we might go here, first" he said nodding towards a tall silver building nearby.

"No, don't tell me you've brought us here to kill some aliens" Donna groaned.

"I got a message on my physic paper. Someone wants to see me" he told them and they followed him into the direction of the hospital unaware of the danger that lay ahead. As they walked through the doors, the Doctor groaned.

"I hate hospitals"

"Bit rich coming from you" Donna pointed out. He shrugged.

"I can't help it, I don't like hospitals,, they give me the creeps!" Donna rolled her eyes as they walked into the lobby. Donna and Rose stared at the cat nuns."Awww, no little gift shop!" the Doctor groaned, like a sulky five year old.

"You're actually attracted to that man" Donna whispered into Rose's ear. Rose sniggered.

"They're cats!" Rose said, fascinated. The door pulled her away from the cat nuns that were glaring at them.

"Now Rose, don't stare. Think what you look like to them all…. Pink and yellow" the Doctor said, pulling her along and into the lift. Donna had been reading one of the posters stuck on the notice board and didn't realize the Doctor and Rose had got into the lift until it was about to close.

"It's too late its closing!" Rose shouted.

"Don't worry there's another lift" Donna replied calmly.

"Ward 26 and watch out for the disinfectant!" the Doctor yelled at her.

"The what?!"

"The disinfectant!"

"What?!"

"The di --- oh never mind you'll find out" the Doctor mumbled as the doors shut. The Doctor grinned at Rose in the lift and they laughed as they were drenched in disinfectant. They were blow dried shortly after before the lift slid open. Donna, however, did not enjoy her experience in the lift. Out of nowhere she was soaked in disinfectant and she started shrieking.

"Doctor, I'm going to kill you!" then she was pulled her top down as he started floating all over the place as she was blow dried. The lift pang open and to her surprise, found herself in some sort of basement. She walked down the dark hallway and frowned. Surely, this was not a ward? It looked too dirty. Suddenly a pale, scrawny man covered in tattoos approached her from out of the shadows. She nearly had a heart attack. "Excuse me, do you know where ward 26 is?" she asked him, assuming he was part of the staff.

"This way, Donna Noble" he said, sounding a bit sinister but Donna didn't seem to notice as she followed on behind him. The Doctor and Rose left the elevator they had been in and walked down a plain white hallway and into a ward with people that had various illnesses. The Doctor's eyes widened as a cat nun led them further down the ward.

"It is rather strange to visit without knowing the patient" she said suspiciously.

"No I think I've found her" the Doctor replied. Rose frowned as she followed the Doctor towards a big face in a jar. Rose was surprised to see the face was wearing lipstick. How odd, she thought as they walked towards her.

"Novice Hame -- if I can leave this gentleman in your care?" the cat nun said the other one sat in a chair beside the face.

"Oh I think my friend got lost – her name is Donna Noble. Could you ask at reception?" the Doctor asked the cat who was walking away.

"Certainly sir" she replied as she walked off.

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or...?" Novice Hame asked him as he knelt down next to the face.

"We met just the once on Platform One. What's wrong with her?"

"I'm so sorry" Novice said quietly."I thought you knew. The face of Boe is dying"

"Of what?" the Doctor frowned.

"Old age, the one thing we cannot cure. She is thousands of years old, some say millions but I think that is impossible" the Doctor looked stunned, Rose looked intrigued.

"Oh I like impossible" he said starting to smile."I'm here, it's me. I look a bit different but it's me the Doctor". As he placed his hand on the tank, Rose swore she heard the face sigh blissfully. In the basement, Donna started to suspect something was very wrong as he led her futher and futher down a dark corridor until finally they walked into a room where a film was being shown. It showed a blonde, curly haired lady, with a posh accent, talking to young men in tuxedos.

"Anyway-- oh, hello darling! Now, don't! Stop it!" the woman giggled. Then it hit Donna. She had heard the voice before.

"Wait a minute" she turned around and nearly had a heart attack when she saw Lady Cassandra, in all her trampoline glory, glaring at her.

"Peek-a-bo!" she sang.

"Oh my God! " Donna gasped." Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra!"

"What do you think I'm going to do? FLAP you to death!"

"Yeah, but what about Gollum other there?!" Donna pointed to the pale man.

"Oh that's just Chip – he's my pet" Cassandra told her, dismissively."He's not even a proper life-form. He's a force-grown clone. I modelled him on my favourite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs"

"That better mean food. How are you still alive?" Donna narrowed her eyes at her.

"After you murdered me" she said coldly.

"Well if you weren't trying to kill everyone for money, all for that bloody plastic surgery of yours, it wouldn't of happened!" Donna snapped.

"The brain of my mistress survived. And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin" Chip explained, staring awestruck at Cassandra, to Donnas' amusement.

"You got ripped apart" Donna pointed out.

"That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body. This piece is the back"

"Right so you're talking out of you're-"

"Ask not!" Cassandra cut off Donna, who was laughing hard.

"So no one knows you're here?" Donna asked once she'd calmed down.

"Chip steals medicine. Helps mi lady. Soothes her. Strokes her..."

"Enough!" Donna interrupted before Chip could go into detail. It was bad enough she had to put up with that kind of talk twenty four seven from Rose and the Doctor, particularly the new one. "You have knack for survival Cassandra, I'll give you that"

"Thank you but I haven't been completely idle. You see, I've been listening, tucked away under this hospital. The sisterhood are hiding something" Cassandra whispered. Donna raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Cats have secrets. Come close, I'll whisper it too you" Donna glared at her.

"As if! I'm not an idiot Cassandra. I'm not going anywhere near you, sweetheart" Donna hissed, taking a few steps back and was suddenly struck with light, paralysing her so she couldn't move. "What the hell are you doing, Cassandra? Oi, you better let me go or else! I swear, the Doctor will free me and then you'll be a dead trampoline!" Donna shrieked hysterically. Damn, the Doctor had no idea where she was.

"The lady's moving on. Its goodbye trampoline and hello gorgeous" Cassandra smirked. Then there was a flash of light and the room filled with smoke. When it had all calmed down, Chip approached Donnas' body which was lying on the floor.

"Mistress?" Chip asked, concerned. Cassandra slowly got up from the floor and walked over to the mirror. Her eyes widened with shock and disgust.

"Oh my god. I'm a ginger!" she spat in a posher version of Donnas' London accent."Look at me! From class to brass! Although...." a slow smile spread on 'Cassandra's' face. She reached for Donnas' jacket zipper and pulled it down before running her hands down Donnas' body."Oh....curves...oh....baby!. It's like living inside a bouncy castle!"

"The mistress if beautiful!" Chip praised."What of Donna Noble's mind?"

"Oh gosh... she's with the Doctor... a man... he's the Doctor... the same Doctor with a new face! That hypocrite! I must get the name of his surgeon. And he has a girlfriend!" Back upstairs, the Doctor started to worry about Donna so he left Rose with Boe while he phoned Donnas' mobile.

"Donna, where are you?" he asked when she picked up.

"Uhm....wotcha" the Doctor frowned. Was this some new game Donna was playing with him or something? Well else would she be speaking so strange?.

"Where have you been? How long does it take to get to ward 26?"

"I'm on my way governor!"

"You'll never guess. I'm with the face of Boe, remember her?!" the Doctor asked excitedly.

"Of course I do....that big old.....boat....race"

"I'd better go, see you in a minute" he said, hanging up. He walked up to the Duck of Manhattan, who had been suddenly cured from his disease. He was celebrating with a glass of champagne but the Doctor tried to ask questions, his uptight cow of a lawyer told him to shoo off so he walked back to Rose.

" Where's Donna?" Rose asked him worried.

"Come on, let's find her" he said and they held hands as they walked down the ward and into the corridor where they saw Donna walking towards them, smoothing out her hair. Her black jacket had been removed and her white blouse had a few buttons undone flashing off part of her pink bra to the world. Rose raised an eyebrow, that wasn't like Donna to do something like that. It was more of the kind of thing Donna would have go at Rose for doing. The Doctor seemed completely oblivious though."There you are. Come and look at this patient!" he said dragging Donna towards a man lying in bed with red skin. Something was off, Rose noticed. Donna would have slapped the Doctor by now for pulling her so hard or for maybe, the disinfectant in the lift. "Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it -- they've invented a cell washing cascade -- it's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced. I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this" they followed the Doctor back down the ward and into the corridor. "Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, how are they doing it and why is such a secret?"

"I can't Adam and Eve it" Donna said, looking bored.

"What's with the voice?" Rose asked her, suspiciously.

"Oh I don't know, just larking about, New Earth, New me" Rose narrowed her eyes at Donna while the Doctor just grinned idiotically. He might be handsome but where was all that time lord intelligence coming from if he could not even tell something was off with Donna? Rose thought with disbelief.

"Well I can talk new, new Doctor" he said, smirking at Rose.

"Mmm....aren't you just?" then to Rose's shock, Donna pulled the Doctor face towards her and smacked her lips against his for about ten seconds and then let go. The Doctor looked dazed. "I....terminals this way" Donna said, breathlessly walking off.

"Did you enjoy that?" Rose asked, staring at him, not annoyed but shocked.

"No of course not" he said quickly, smoothing out his hair. Rose grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the hallway towards the direction Donna had just walked off in. They found Donna stood in a foyer, examining a screen with a map of the hospital on it. When they joined her, 'Donna' discovered a secret corridor behind the wall. As the three of them walked into it, the Doctor exchanged a look with Rose. Finally he seemed to have realised that Donna wasn't quite Donna.

"That's disgusting what's wrong with him?!" Donna gasped as they opened up one of a thousand green chambers with bodies inside. Inside the Doctor stared in horror at a human that had boils and all sorts of ugly rashes and marks all over her skin.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" the Doctor said softly. Rose looked at the woman with eyes full of sympathy.

"What disease is it, Doctor?"

"All of them. Every disease in the Galaxy. They've been infected with everything" he replied sounding angry.

"Are we safe?" Donna asked, alarmed.

"The air's sterile, just don't touch them" the Doctor warned them before Novice Hame showed up from behind them. The Doctor glared at her, eyes full of rage."Novice Hame, when you took you're vows, did you agree to this?"

"To help the greater good" she replied calmly.

"What, by killing?" Rose sneered before she watched as Novice Hame and the Doctor started arguging and when Donna piped up with her own question, the Doctor decided it was time to get the old Donna back.

"Okay I can understand the bodies but one thing I can't understand – what have you done to Donna?" the Doctor asked annoyed.

"I don't know what you mean" Novice replied coolly.

"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to beware of that -- very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Donna's head, I want it reverse. These people are dying and Donna would care." Novice denied it again and Donna insisted she was fine when the Doctor and Rose knew better. Finally, Donna started to smile.

"Okay, smarty pants. Lady Killer" Donna said huskily and pulled on his tie. Rose was torn between laughing at the expression on the Doctor's face or grabbing hold of Donnas' hair and dragging her off him. She knew it wasn't Donna; somebody had possessed her, so she wouldn't feel a thing.

"You're not Donna. Donna would rather kiss a monkey's ass than let her lips go anywhere near his" Rose pointed out. 'Donna' threw Rose a glare.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"The last human" she whispered into his ear. He pulled away, surprised.

"Cassandra?"

"Wake up and smell the perfume" she hissed before pulling out a tube of perfume and spraying him with it, knocking him immediately. Rose, catched the Doctor as he fell before Cassandra sprayed her too. When they woke up they found themselves locked into two of the chambers.

"Oi, bitch, let me out" Rose yelled.

"Let us out right now!" the Doctor demanded.

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only"

"You've stolen Donnas' body!" he hissed.

"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about... three minutes left. Enjoy" she smirked before running off to get confronted by two cat nuns. Minutes later, the Doctor and Rose found themselves released from their chambers. Unfortunately so did the thousands of people with the diseases. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and they legged it as fast as they could out of there.

"What have you done?!" the Doctor yelled at Cassandra who they found at the end of the hallway. The three of them ran out of there, down some stairs and eventually made into the basement where Cassandra had been kept, leaving Chip behind to hid in some sort of bin. The Doctor and Rose stared at Cassandra angrily.

"We're trapped what are we are going to do!" Cassandra exclaimed, frightened.

"First of all, you're going to leave that body!" the Doctor commanded. "That psychograft is banned on every planet"

"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skins dead" she spat, irritated.

"Not our problem, you can float as atoms in the air for all I care. I just want my friend back" Rose said, annoyed. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at her threateningly.

"Give her back to us" he demanded.

"You asked for it" Cassandra hissed and a pink light escaped from Donna's body and entered Rose's.

"My bloody head, I'm going to kill Cassandra" Donna hissed and saw the Doctor, glaring at Rose.

"Out of her right now!" the Doctor said, furiously.

"Awww but I like this body. It's alot lighter than hers" Donna's temper suddenly flared.

" Are you calling me fat?"

"Well......" Donna barely managed to refrain from hitting her but remembered it was her friend's body although normally she might not feel it if she was posessed, with Donna there was a chance she'd feel it for the rest of the week so Donna decided not to take the risk. "Doctor, get Cassandra out of Rose!"

"Fine" Cassandra smirked and the pink light left Rose and entered an unsuspecting Doctor. Donna caught Rose as she stumbled backwards and they both watched, bemused, as Cassandra started feeling up and down the Doctor's body. "Oh, my, this is different! Goodness me, I'm a man! Yum, so many parts, he's only just started to use" Donna cringed, Rose went red."Ah, ah,two hearts, oh baby, I'm beating out a samba!"

"Get out of him" Rose snarled just as the sick people burst through the door and started pouring into the basement. Cassandra eyes widened and she leapt behind Donna and Rose.

"What do we do? What would he go? The Doctor – what the hell would he do?!" Cassandra cried.

"The ladder!" Donna yelled.

"Out of the way ginger" hissed Cassandra, pushing Donna out of the way and climbing up the ladders. Donnas' eyes flickered with annoyance but followed Rose as she followed Cassandra up the ladders. The sick people followed them and Cassandra flew back into Donnas' body so the Doctor would open the doors but he refused until she left Donna's body so she had go into one of the sick people''s bodies instead. "Oh no, you don't" she growled as the three of them escaped. She flew out of the body and into Donnas' just before the doors shut.

"That was you're last warning Cassandra" the Doctor snapped angrily.

"Inside her head... they're so alone... they keep reaching out, just to hold us... all their lives and they've never been touched" Cassandra said quietly. The Doctor pulled her up to her feet, deciding he'd get to her after he'd sorted out the sick people. Rose shot Cassandra a cold glare as the Doctor walked through Ward 26 and started warning people about the ill people that had escaped. They then went towards the elevator after the Doctor had tried a couple of bags of solvents across his body. He opened the elevator with his sonic screwdriver and leapt onto the rope that was hanging in the shaft."What do you think you're doing?!"

"Going down" he answered. "Rose get on my back, Cassandra you follow us down"

"No way!" Cassandra refused as Rose ran and jumped onto the Doctor's back grinning.

"This going to be fun" she smiled."Cassandra, if you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?" Cassandra started blankly as they slide down, screaming. Cassandra took a deep breath and jumped onto the rope and followed them down. They waited for her as she landed. She picked herself off the floor.

"Well that is one way to lose weight" she said before the Doctor ordered her to pull down the lever on his command. Rose was relieved; the Doctor had a plan for once. "What about you?"

"I've got an appointment" he smirked as he walked into one of the lifts."The Doctor is in. I'm in here come in!" he yelled at the infected. Instantly, the sick people marched towards him."Pull down the lever" Cassandra did as he said without hesitating. They all walked into the lift and the disinfectant rained down on them. Suddenly their spot, boils and rashes disappeared. They were cured and they hugged the other infected people, curing them too in the process. Rose hugged the Doctor, happily before he remembered the face of Boe. The three of them walked back up to ward 26 where they found that the face of Boe was now awake. The Doctor knelt down in front of her and stroked the jar.

"You were suppose to be dying" he smiled at her.

"I was suppose to have done many things but I don't feel like dying today, babe" Rose's eyebrows shot right up. The Doctor was slightly taken back. He'd been called many things before but never _babe. _

"Babe?" Rose murmured.

"Oh I hate telepathy, just what I need, a head full of Boe face" Cassandra hissed. Rose shushed her with her finger.

"I have grown tired with the universe Doctor but you have taught me to look at it a new" Boe said softly.

"There are legends you know, saying you are over a million years old" the Doctor told her.

"There are? That would be impossible" she laughed silently.

"Wouldn't it just?....I got the impression...there was something you wanted to tell me"

"A great secret"

"So the legends says" he smiled.

"It can wait" she replied.

"Oh, does it have too?" the Doctor asked, slightly put out. Rose grinned, amused.

"We shall meet again, sweetheart, for the third and last time and the truth shall be told. Until that day...." the face of Boe faded away leaving behind a stunned Doctor, a slightly puzzled Rose and a bored Cassandra.

"That is enigmatic. That – that is- that is textbook enigmatic" the Doctor said impressed.

"Hey she called you babe and sweetheart! What's up with that?" Rose asked.

"Who knows" he shrugged and turned to Cassandra who was still inhibiting Donnas' body."And now for you"

"But everything's fine. Everything's happy. Can't you just leave me?" she whined.

"You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it Cassandra" the Doctor told her, gently.

"I don't want to die!" Cassandra wailed.

"Mistress!" a voice piped up and they all watched as Chip ran towards Cassandra merrily."I kept myself safe for you!"

"A body and not just that a volunteer" Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes at Chip, who look delighted at the prospect of being possessed by Cassandra.

"Don't you dare he has a life of his own!" the Doctor warned but Cassandra ignored him and leapt into Chip's body anyway. Donna gasped as she gained control of her body, Rose catched her quickly.

"Hello" Rose said, smiling warmly at Donna.

"Hello" the friends hugged before Donna turned and stared at Cassandra coldly. Cassandra was in the middle of speaking when Chip's heart started to give way. The Doctor offered to take her to the city but she refused. Instead she chose to die but the Doctor offered to do one last thing for her and took her back to the Tardis before dropping her off at the last party she'd gone too in her normal body. Cassandra died in her own arms a few minutes later. Rose, Donna and the Doctor looked on for a moment before walking off and back to the Tardis where Donna proceeded to yell at the Doctor for a number of things including the disinfectant in the elevator, the getting possessed and then at the Doctor for allowing Cassandra to kiss him with her lips. Rose had told her about it for pure entertainment value and she was right after Donna slapped the Doctor hard causing him to stumble backwards onto his bum. Then the new two hours for Donna were spent washing her mouth out with soap and water vigerously.


	16. Queen Victoria and the were wolf

**A/N : This chapter's a bit shorter than the normal because I couldn't sum up enough enthiusiam to write out the entire episode of**** tooth and claw. At least I didn't skip it entirely like I was very tempted to do!. And thanks for the reviews once again :).**

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Finally somewhere fun! Donna thought happily as she waited for Rose and the Doctor to enter the console room. Blimey, Rose was taking her time on the toilet and the Doctor was still changing his shirt after Donna had 'accidently' split her coffee on him earlier when he'd made a comment about her choice of t-shirt. They were going to see one of Donnas' favorite bands of the past in concert, she'd been nagging him for ages, but then he went and compared her outfit to a bin bag!. And it didn't take twenty minutes to change a shirt did it? Finally, the pair entered the console room looking pleased. Donna raised an eyebrow at their appearances. Her hair was slightly messy as if she'd just rolled out of bed and her lipstick was slightly smudged. The Doctor's hair was all over the place and his tie was loose. Donna didn't need to ask what had taken them so long. "So are we going now?" Donna asked eagerly.

"Hold on a minute, have a little patience" he said looking taken back. Donnas' eyes flashed with annoyance but she chose to ignore his remark.

"So you never answered my question earlier….is my outfit alright for the 1970's?" Rose asked him. He glanced up and down her body. Unlike Donnas' choice of dungarees and a t-shirt, she wore a white frilly dress and silver platform shoes. Her feet will be killing her by the end of the night.

"Oh yeah,, it's lovely" he grinned.

"Oi you told me I might as well be wearing a bin bag!" Donna snapped.

"_I_ like you're outfit" Rose smiled."It's cool"

"_Cool?"_ Donna rolled her eyes."Unless you're blonde and a captain, there's no real point in asking for his opinion on anything".

"Right, so Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Number One in 1979" Rose wiped her mouth clean and re-applied her lipstick before slowly smiling at him.

"You're such a punk!"

"I can think of some other things that he is that would be more appropriate" Donna murmured and earned a glare from the Doctor."But I'm not going to say it because we're in his ship and it would be rude"

"Since when has that stopped you?" he asked, shaking his head. The Tardis rocked about and finally stopped as they reached their destination.

"Come on then space-boy, time for some fun for once!" Donna said, running out of the Tardis, the Doctor and Rose quickly following her but as soon as the three of them walked out, they were greeted by a group of soldiers in old fashioned uniforms pointing a gun at them.

"Oh 1879. Same difference" he shrugged.

"1879? Learn to drive you're bloody ship!" Donna hissed.

"Are we in Scotland?" the Doctor asked in a Scottish accent, to Donna and Rose's surprise.

"Oh that is so cute" Rose muttered.

"Rose, monkeys are cute. Doesn't mean you want to kiss them" Donna whispered. Rose ignored her and rolled her eyes.

"I'm Doctor James McCrimmon. From the... Township of Balamory. Eh... I have my credentials, if I may..." the guard nodded as the Doctor pulled out his physic paper and flashed it at them." As you can see, a Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. I trained under Doctor Bell himself"

"Let them approach" a posh voice from the black carriage in front of them spoke. The guards didn't think it was a good idea but again she insisted so the guard gave the three of them orders. Donna rolled her eyes at the pompous tone of the guard. The door opened and the Doctor looked awestruck.

"Donna, Rose, might I introduce her majesty Queen Victoria. Empress of India and defender of faith" the Doctor told them, still in a Scottish accent.

"Donna Noble m'am" Donna immediately curtseyed. "Sorry for me and my friend's nakedness...."

"I've had five daughters' it is nothing to me" Queen Victoria replied. The guard reminded they needed to be off so the Queen insisted that the three of them accompany them. To Donnas' annoyance, they were forced to walk behind the carriage, guarded.

"She makes us tag along and then forces us to tread miles and miles right behind her while she sits comfortably in the carriage! The nerve of that woman!" Donnas said indignantly.

"Still Queen Victoria?!" the Doctor said excitedly.

"I know!" Donna grinned and they hugged.

"What a laugh!" Rose smirked and joined in with the hugging before they continued on walking.

"Oh I just want to hear her say – 'we are not amused'. I bet you five quid I can get her to say it!" Donna said to the Doctor, who raised his eyebrow.

"That would be an abuse of my privilege as a traveller in time" he replied.

"Ten quid?" she offered.

"You're on!" Rose watched them with amusement before a big old fashioned mansion came into view. Queen Victoria stepped out of her carriage and introduced them to Sir Robert.

"Please excuse the naked girls" the Queen said snottily.

"Sorry!" Rose apologised before Donna could say anything that would cause them to end up with their heads on a platter.

"They're feral children. I bought Rose for twenty pence and Donna for six from an old London Town. It was Donna or the Elephant man so...." Donna scowled at him before glancing at Queen Victoria.

"Space-boy thinks he's a hilarious but I'm so not amused. What do you say m'am?"

"It hardly matters. Shall we proceed?" the Queen asked before they all walked into the house. On their way in, the Doctor couldn't help but smirk at Donna, who glared at him in return. They followed Sir Robert and Queen Victoria into a spacious room with an enormous gold telescope in the centre of it. The Doctor asked if he could take a look and after being granted permission, as usual, he had to go sticking his foot in it, labelling it rubbish and then quickly adding it was pretty. Donna was embarrassed on his behalf. After another pathetic attempt by Donna to get Queen Victoria to say I am not amused, Donna and Rose were sent to a room to put an end to their 'nakedness' while the Doctor went downstairs and joined Queen Victoria for dinner, where the captain immediately started sucking up to her to the Doctor's amusement. In the bedroom, Donna and Rose opened the wardrobe and Donna leapt back in fright when they saw a young maid tied up in it.

"They came through the house. The incitements, they took the Steward and the Master. And my Lady" the maid explained, shaking.

"Listen – We've got a friend, he's called the Doctor -- he'll know what to do. You've got to come with me." Rose told her gently but she still looked scared.

"Oh but I can't miss"

"What's you're name?" Donna asked her softly.

"Flora"

"Flora, we'll be safe. There's more people arrived downstairs -- soldiers and everything, and they can help us. I promise. Come on. Okay? Come on." Flora finally agreed to come with them and they untied her. They walked into a hallway and were taken by surprise when they were grabbed by a couple of what looked like monks. "Oi, get you're dirty hands off my mouth!" Donna yelled before falling unconscious. Downstairs, Queen Victoria insisted on haring a were wolf story from Sir Robert. The Doctor asked him several questions before Father Angelo walked in, chanting Latin under his breath causing chaos's to suddenly strike. Everyone realized now there was something wrong. The captain pulled out his gun and aimed it at Sir Roberts head.

"What is the meaning of this sir Robert?" he growled.

"What is happening?" the Queen, demanded, confused.

"I'm sorry, you're majesty. They have my wife" Sir Robert said quietly.

"Rose, Donna? Where are they?!" the Doctor asked, alarmed. Donna and Rose were chained in a cellar with a were wolf trying to eat them. When the Doctor finally showed up and released them, he was completely mesmerized by the boy that had transformed into the wolf.

"What took you so long space-boy?" Donna snapped."I thought I was going to be his supper"

"That's beautiful" he breathed.

"Doctor, hurry up for goodness sake!" Rose yelled, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away. They ran back into the mansion with the were wolf hot on their heels but when the Doctor tried to get everybody to follow him upstairs one stubborn old man refused and was killed. They all ran up except Isobel and the maids who stayed downstairs in the kitchen. The captain sacrificed himself so that they would have more time to get to the library, leaving Sir Robert in charge. Donna, Rose, the Queen and Sir Robert entered the room and the Doctor slammed the door shut behind them. The Wolf was right outside the room, sniffing but was unable to enter.

"I don't understand what's stopping it?" Donna asked, furrowing her brow.

"Something inside this room. I don't get it, why can it not get in?" the Doctor frowned.

"I'll tell you what though...." Rose grinned."Were wolf!"

"I know!" Donna laughed and the two girls hugged.

"You two alright?" the Doctor asked, concerned.

"I'm okay, yeah!" Rose replied.

"I guess I've seen worst" Donna muttered.

" I'm sorry, Ma'am. It's all my fault. I should've sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong, I... thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?" Sir Robert looked at Queen Victoria, remorseful.

"Well, they were bald, athletic... your wife's away, I just thought you were happy." The Doctor shrugged.

"I bet you're not amused now!" Donna said to Queen Victoria, who glared at her angrily.

"Do you think this is funny?" she demanded.

"No" Donna answered her quickly.

"What, exactly, I pray someone please -- what exactly is that creature?"

"You'd call it a werewolf, but technically it's a more of a lupine wavelength haemovariform" the Doctor explained. Queen Victoria looked at him blankly.

" And should I trust you, sir? You who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?" she asked him, sternly. The Doctor looked sheepish as he realized he'd dropped his Scottish accent.

"Oh right, sorry"

"I'll not have it. No, sir -- not you... not that thing... none of it. This is not my world." The Doctor moved towards Sir Robert, opting for a change of subject to ease the awkwardness.

"Mistletoe... Sir Robert, did you father put that there?"

"I don't known, I suppose…." He replied, uncertainly.

"On the other door, too... a carving wouldn't be enough... I wonder..." the Doctor licked the door, to Donnas' disgust. What was it with him and licking stuff? She wondered." Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe -- it's been worked into the wood like a varnish! How clever was your dad?? I love him! Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins"

"And the wolf's allergic to it?" Donna asked.

"Well, it thinks it is. The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things"

"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon." Sir Robert pointed out, wearily.

" Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?" the Doctor snapped, irritably.

"Being rude again Doctor!" Donna hissed.

"Good I meant that one" the Doctor said, annoyed as he walked towards the bookshelves." You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself." A couple of minutes later, everyone was searching through a pile of books until the Doctor finally found the one who was looking for. They all crowded around him as he slipped on his glasses. "Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth"

"A space-ship?" Donna suggested.

"A shooting star" Sir Robert told them and started reading from the book." "In the year of our Lord, 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit." That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the Monastery." Shortly after Sir Robert had finished talking, Queen Victoria pulled out a beautiful and rather large diamond from her bag, asking Sir Robert to put it somewhere safe if she died. The Doctor took it from her and started to examine it while Rose and Donna stared at it with awe.

"Good job my mum's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing." Donna commented.

"And she'd win" the Doctor retorted, resulting in Donna slapping him. Hard.

"For goodness sake, not in front of the Queen!" the Doctor hissed.

"Don't be telling me what to do space-boy!" she snapped. The Doctor rolled his eyes and decided it was best not to attempt arguing with Donna. She'd win so he turned back to the Queen and asked why she travelled with it.

"My annual pilgrimage. I'm taking it to Helier and Carew. The Royal Jewelers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting."

"Why? It's perfect" Rose asked, staring at it.

"My late husband never thought so." Suddenly the Doctor leapt back and ran his hands through his hair like he usually did when he realized something. Sir Robert's father and Queen Victoria's husband, may have set the whole thing up as a trap for the were wolf. Before they could go into too much detail, they realized the Wolf was on top of the roof.

"Out! Out! Out!" the Doctor ordered and everyone ran out of the room immediately just as the wolf got in. The Doctor slammed the door shut and they ran down a corridor."We need to get to the observatory!" he yelled. Suddenly the Wolf appeared out of nowhere and hovered other Donna.

"Oh my god, do something space-boy!" she screamed and a bucket of water flew at the were wolf. It instantly off, away from them.

"Nice shot" the Doctor praised. Sir Robert forced his way to go back downstairs while he led them all to the observatory. When they got in, they shut the doors but the Doctor explained to them that since there was no mistletoe on them, they weren't safe so the wolf would be able to easily get in anyway.

"Just do you're work and I'll defend it" Sir Robert said bravely.

"If we could bind them shut with rope or something!"

"I said I'd find you time sir" Sir Robert told him, firmly. The Doctor looked at him with respect.

"Good man". Sir Robert went outside and shut the doors, guarded only with a sword. Inside, Queen Victoria passed the Doctor the diamond from her bag. He then ran over to the telescope and ordered Donna and Rose to lift it.

"And you're sure this is the right time for stargazing?" Rose snapped sarcastically.

"Yes it is" he replied. The were wolf finally broke through the door after killing Sir Robert but by that time, they'd managed to get the telescope working and the Wolf was lifted into the air. It suddenly retook human form and the human asked them to make it brighter and let him go. After it had all finished, the Doctor approached the queen, who was staring at her hand intently. "You're majesty, did it bite you? "

"No" she replied, pulling her hand back quickly.

"If that thing bit you…."

"It was a splinter of wood when the door came apart" she insisted, walking off. A few hours later, when dawn was starting to break, the Doctor, Rose and Donna were knelt before Queen Victoria in the house hall. "By the power invested in me by the church and the state, I dub thee – Sir Doctor of Tardis" as she tapped him on the shoulder, Donna suppressed a snigger."By the power invested in me by the church and the state, I dub thee, Dame Donna of Chiswick" Donna smiled politely as she was tapped on the shoulder. Finally it was Rose's turn."By the power invested in me by the church and the state, I dub thee – Dame Rose of Tardis. You may stand" all three of them immediately rose.

"Many thanks m'am" the Doctor smiled."

"Granddad's going to have a field day!" Donna laughed.

"Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving a message from the great beyond; I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now Ma'am, even from beyond the grave." The Doctor said to the Queen, serious.

"Indeed. Then you may think on this, also: that I am not amused." The Doctor groaned.

"Yes! Space-boy, you better coff up!" Donna grinned but her grin faded when she saw the stern expression of the Queen's face.

"Not remotely amuse and henceforth I banish you."

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor asked, stunned. Donna and Rose exchanged shocked glances.

"I rewarded you, Sir Doctor. And now you are exiled from this empire, never to return. I don't know what you are, the two of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars -- and magic -- and think it fun. But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death and I will not allow it! You will leave this shores and you will reflect, I hope, on how you managed to stray so far from all that is good. And how much longer you will survive this... terrible life. Now leave my world. And never return" the three of them walked out of there and as soon as they were out and heading back towards the Tardis, Donna turned on the Doctor and looked at him annoyed.

"Okay I ask for somewhere fun and where do you bring me? Eighteen bloody seventy nine. Where we are attacked by a werewolf with Queen Victoria, no less, who ends up banishing us! I've been officially banned from my own country. In fact, let's get straight, I've been banished from my country all my life, before I even met you!" she spat.

"It could have been worst" the Doctor shrugged.

"At least we got knighted" Rose said excitedly."And Donna, Queen Victoria was dead by the time you were born so who cares?"

"I guess" she admitted, calming down a bit."And if my mum ever says I'm good for nothing ever again, I'm going to force her to call me Dame Donna Noble"

"I'd like to see that" Rose chuckled, remembering Christmas day. Donna had tried to help her mum with the turkey but had nearly set the kitchen alight. Her and the Doctor had, had a good laugh before rushing out of the house alone and into the Tardis. That had been a good night.

"Besides that Queen Victoria is a right ungrateful cow and while I remember Space-boy" Donnas' voice dragged Rose back into the present."Do you think a visit home would be too much to ask for?" she asked as they walked back into the ship.

"I suppose I don't have much choice do I?" he sighed. Donna turned to Rose, looking quizzical.

"Hey, what about Rose? She hasn't had a visit home yet" Donna pointed out.

"I don't have any family" Rose replied quickly."But I'm sure Wilfred's going to be thrilled to see you" Donna frowned as Rose turned the subject back to her. Obviously her family was something she didn't want to talk about. She and the Doctor had a lot in common.

"Here we go" the Doctor sighed, pressing down on some random buttons and the Tardis set off back to Earth.


	17. Sarah Jane Smith

**A/N : Hope you enjoy this chapter, please review, it motivates me into updating quicker!**

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When Donna had asked the Doctor to take her home for a visit. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind. She stood in, a school kitchen dressed in a white dinner ladies uniform, looking miserable. She was waiting for the lunch bell to ring so she could feed the pesky kids their dinner and get it done with. The Doctor of course got a job as a science teacher and Rose as his teaching assistant. She was going to kill her granddad for informing the Doctor about strange goings on at the school because that was the reason she was where she was right now and she wasn't too happy about it. In the class room, Rose was sat at an empty desk and smiled as the kids talked to each other. They fell silent when the Doctor walked in, dumping a briefcase on the table in front of them."Good morning class, are we sitting comfortably?" the kids all exchanged strange glances."So. .Eh? . Physics, Physics, Physics, Physics, Physics, Physics, Physics" the class stared at him blankly." I hope one of you is getting all this down. Um, okay -- let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?" Rose frowned at him. How the hell were ten or eleven year olds suppose to understand that?. Only one student raised their hand. A small, red haired boy. "What's you're name?" the Doctor asked him.

"Milo" he answered.

"Milo off you go"

"They'd repel each other because they have the same charge" Milo replied. Rose's eyes widened. The Doctor asked an even harder and more complicated question and once again only Milo could answer it. The Doctor asked a couple of more questions which Milo answered all correctly again and realized that Wilfred had been right when he'd told them something odd was going on at the school. The bell rang signaling lunch and Rose followed the Doctor into the canteen. Donna glared at the Doctor annoyed.

"Two bloody days. I will kill you space-boy when we're done" she hissed. He smirked at her and carried his tray to a nearby table shortly followed by Rose. A few minutes later, Donna sat herself down next to Rose at their table while wiping some gravy.

"I think you missed a spot" he grinned. Donna shot daggers at him.

"Doctor, leave her alone" Rose said hitting him in the arm lightly.

"You, eating those chips?" Donna asked and helped herself to a few off his tray.

"They're a bit different" he replied.

"I think they're gorgeous"

"It's very well behaved this place" the Doctor said looking around." I thought there'd be happy-slapping hoodies. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Yeah? Yeah? Oh, yeah! Don't tell me I don't fit in"

"You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting" a cold voice suddenly spoke from behind them and Donna rolled her eyes at the dinner lady standing there.

"I was just talking to this teacher. He doesn't like the chips" the dinner lady narrowed her eyes at the Doctor.

"The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now, get back to work" she hissed at Donna. Donna waited a few seconds before following her.

"Yes sir!" she muttered.

"Poor Donna, at least the uniform looks great on her" Rose said to the Doctor as he pushed his tray to the side. In the kitchen, Donna watched in horror as a barrel of oil toppled over and spilled onto a dinner lady, who started to shriek in agony. Three dinner ladies pulled the woman into a room and shut the door. Donna pulled out of her mobile and started dialing 999 when the dinner lady from the canteen walked out and narrowed her beady eyes at Donna.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Calling an ambulance"

"There is no need. She is quite alright, she does that" she replied coolly and walked away, leaving behind a suspicious Donna. Rose sat next to the Doctor in the staff room feeling bored. Where were all the aliens? She was completely bored out of her skull. The Doctor was busy talking to another teacher when she noticed the headmaster walk in, beside him a brown haired woman in her late forties to early fifties.

"Excuse me colleagues – may I have a moment of you're time?" the Doctor turned and his eyes widened when he noticed the woman. Rose frowned, unless she was missing something, he obviously recognized her.

"May I introduce Miss Sarah-Jane Smith? Miss Smith is a journalist, who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday times. I thought it might do her some good to get a view from the 'trenches' so to speak. Spare me my blushes" Rose watched as Sarah-Jane approached the Doctor and smiled at him warmly.

"Hello" she turned and smiled at Rose as well.

"Oh I should think so!" the Doctor beamed.

"And you are?" she asked them. Rose was confused, it seemed like the Doctor knew her but yet she didn't know the Doctor. It was probably because of the regeneration, she concluded.

"Hm uh? Oh I'm John Smith" he replied, forgetting about Rose. Rose stood up and introduced herself.

"I'm Rose Tyler"

"John Smith? I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name" Sarah-Jane said, looking a bit lost in thought. She quickly snapped out of it."Well it's lovely to meet you both"

"Same here" Rose said politely. Sarah-Jane shook Rose's hand and held it out for the Doctor to shake, who looked slightly dazed to Rose's amusement.

"Oh yeah it's more than lovely, it's brilliant!" he grinned and shook her hand enthusiastically.

"Um so have you two worked here long?"

"No it's only our second day" the Doctor answered, finally pulling himself together.

"So you're new then? What do you think of the school? I mean this new curriculum? So many children getting Ill doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"You don't sound like someone just doing a profile" the Doctor smiled.

"Well no harm in doing a little investigation while I'm here" Sarah-Jane shrugged.

"No good for you" he grinned as she walked away."Good for you. Oh good for you Sarah-Jane Smith" after she'd gone, Rose looked at him quizzical.

"Did you know her, Doctor?"

"She's an old friend of mine – use to travel with me" he replied as they walked out of the staffroom and into the corridor. He looked reminiscent as they walked to the class room. That night, after everyone had gone, the Doctor, Rose and Donna returned. The Doctor had a red hand mark on his face where Donna had slapped him three times after he'd continued to tease her mercilessly for her role as dinner lady. Rose hadn't done a thing to stop it. They opened a fire door and walked through it, Donna looking creept out.

"Oh it's just weird seeing school at night. It feels wrong. When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school"

"Alright team. Oh I hate people who say team, um…..gang…..um….comrades. Okay anyway, Donna go to the kitchen get a sample of that oil, Rose, the new staff are all math's teachers, go and check out the math's department. I'm going to check out Finch's office" the Doctor said before quickly running off up the stairs.

"Good luck" Rose said hugging Donna before walking off towards the math's department, leaving Donna to go to the kitchen. The Doctor found Sarah-Jane stood outside the maintence room, where he'd parked the Tardis. She looked at him shocked, she knew it was him now and it wasn't long before she confronted him about the past.

"I thought you died" she said sadly.

"I lived. Everyone else died Sarah" he sighed.

"I can't believe it's you" she said for the one hundredth time before they heard a scream."Okay now I can" they both ran down the corridor and round a corner where they nearly bumped into Rose.

"Did you hear that?" she gasped for breath. Sarah-Jane stared at her."Oh hi again"

"Sarah-Jane, this my companion, Rose. Rose this is Sarah-Jane as you already know". Rose barely managed to suppress her annoyance at being introduced as his 'companion' but she decided to let it go.

"Hi, nice to see you again" Sarah-Jane said politely with a fake smile plastered on her face."I can tell you're getting older, you're assistants are getting younger" Rose's eyes flickered with irritation briefly but she smiled at her huskily.

"Sweetheart, if I was his assistant I wouldn't be doing half the stuff I have been doing with him" Sarah-Jane looked shocked. The Doctor's cheeks went red. The three of them walked towards the kitchen but on their way there, found Donna next to a storage cupboard surrounded by vacuum packed rats.

"Donna didn't I tell you to go to the kitchen?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes and I did" she said, gritting her teeth."But I decided to look in here on my way out. You know, just in case"

"Gross, they're rats" Rose exclaimed disgusted.

"And you decided to scream" the Doctor said, looking slightly amused. Donna glared at him.

"They took me by surprise, space-boy" Donna snapped.

"Oh, poor little Donna" he said sarcastically.

"I'll give you poor little Don-"

"Hello can we focus?!" Rose cut Donna off before she could say anything that would set them off bickering once again and resulting un another slap for the Doctor. Rose was used to it but they didn't have the time right now."Does anyone find anything strange about this? Rats in school"

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?" Sarah-Jane hissed at Rose, who didn't take any offense but Donna looked annoyed on her friend's behalf. Rose smiled calmly.

"I'm from the 51st century, by that time nobody did that in school anymore. And I'm twenty one if you must know". Sarah-Jane fell silent at the younger woman's cool reply. She was being rude and she knew better at her age.

"Anyway moving on" the Doctor said awkwardly."Everything started when Mr. Finch arrived. We should go and check his office" the three of them walked down the dark corridor until the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to open the door. "Donna remember when you used to think all the teachers slept in school?" Donna furrowed her brow.

"Yeah?"

"Well they do" the Doctor told her. They all looked in to see several bat-like creatures hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh my god" Donna said before running out of the school. The Doctor, Rose and Sarah-Jane quickly followed.

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor said turning to walk back inside. "I need the Tardis to analyze all the oil we got from the kitchen" Sarah-Jane grabbed his arm excitedly.

"I might be able to help you, there's something I have got to show you!" Rose and Donna followed as Sarah-Jane dragged the Doctor towards her car. She opened the boot and the Doctor immediately started to grin.

"K9!. Donna Noble, Captain Rose Tyler, allow me to introduce K9 – well K9 mark III to be precise" Donna raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Rose.

"Why does it look so disco?" Donna asked immediately receiving annoyed glares from Sarah-Jane and the Doctor.

"Oi! In the year five thousand, this was cutting edge" the Doctor snapped, Donna made a scoffing sound before he turned his attention back to the tin dog sitting in the boot."What happened to him?"

"Oh one day, he just….nothing!" she explained.

"Why didn't you try to get him repaired?" the Doctor asked her.

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a mini-metro! Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone!"

"Ooh, what's the nasty woman done to you?" he cooed at the dog. Donna rolled her eyes.

"Look, no offense but could you two just stop petting him for a minute? As difficult as that may be to do" Donna snapped. The two reluctantly agreed and the four of them plus K9 walked to the nearest chip shop. Rose and Donna sat at a table eating their chips while Sarah-Jane talked to the Doctor as he repaired K9. Rose watched them, clearly trying not to be jealous. A few minutes later, K9 was working again and they all gathered round as the robotic dog analyzed the chip oil.

"Confirmation of analysis -- substance is Krillitane Oil" it croaked.

"They're Krillitanes" the Doctor said shocked.

"Is that bad?" Donna asked.

"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad" he answered her.

"And what are Krillitanes?" Sarah Jane frowned.

"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries -- people you've invaded or have been invaded by, you've got bits-- bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever -- the Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry-pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks"

"What do they want?"

"It's the children. They're doing something to the children" the Doctor's eyes widened in realization. The four of them plus K9 left the chip shop. Sarah-Jane took K9 back to her car with Donna following her, since she had a feeling Rose wanted to have a word with the Doctor. She was right. Rose followed the Doctor as he walked across the street.

"You introduced me to Sarah-Jane as you're companion? Is that all I am to you?" Rose demanded.

"What?"

"Are you going to leave me and Donna behind one day?" she asked, gulping back tears. Rose didn't know what was wrong with her; she had never got this wound up about a guy. Even a great looking one. She was tough but for some reason the Doctor made her feel things she'd never felt before in her life.

"No, not you two" he said tonelessly.

"But you were close to Sarah-Jane once and now you never even mention her. Why?" Rose had no idea why she even cared. She trusted him but for some reason she felt like she needed to ask.

"I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you—"he stopped before he could finish the sentence.

"I get it" Rose sighed and hugged him. She could tell she'd hurt his feelings and he obviously didn't want talk about it too much. Suddenly one of the Krillitanes swooped down on them and knocked Rose over before flying away. Donna and Sarah-Jane came running towards them.

"Rose are you alright?" Donna asked concerned and helping her back up onto her feet.

"Was that a Krillitane?" Sarah-Jane interrupted.

"It didn't touch us. It just flew off into the night, what did it do that for?" Rose frowned.

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The next morning , the four of them stepped out of Sarah-Jane's car and walked up to the school. On their way, the Doctor gave them instructions. To Donna's annoyance, he told her to just stand outside and keep watch. Then to add insult to injury, Sarah-Jane threw her, her car keys so she could keep K9 company. Donna was not happy at all but Rose was very more ticked off when the Doctor told her and Sarah-Jane to go to the computer room to crack open the computers and tossed Sarah-Jane his sonic screwdriver even though Rose had expected him to give it to her. The Doctor went to the school swimming pool and had a talk with headmaster Finch who revealed his plans to him and proceeded to ask him to join them. The Doctor immediately declined and walked away. In the computer room, Sarah-Jane was struggling to get the sonic screwdriver to work."Here give it to me" Rose said and Sarah-Jane reluctantly passed it to her. Rose rolled under the desk and started to get to work. The sonic screwdriver instantly worked for her.

"Used to work first time in my day" Sarah-Jane said.

"Good for you" Rose muttered.

"Can I give you a bit of advice?"

"I have a feeling you're about to" Rose straightened up.

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, I don't want you to feel like I'm intruding-"

"I don't" Rose replied simply."I'm not the jealous type, not really. Besides if he wants to see other people, that's fine with me. Keep's things interesting" Rose smirked huskily.

"Even so…." Sarah-Jane said, trying not to appear taken back."I'm not interested in picking up where we left off"

"That's a shame. He'll be disappointed" Rose said lightly. Sarah-Jane was lost for words and Rose felt a little bad for her really. Sarah-Jane obviously still cared a lot for the Doctor and he had abandoned her. Rose stood up and forgot all about working. She decided to call it a truce with the woman."With you did he stroke bits of the Tardis?"

"Yes, all the time" Sarah-Jane laughed.

"I'm like do you two want to be left alone?" that made them both howl with laughter just as the Doctor walked in.

"How's it going?" he asked. They both starred laughing hysterically at the sight of him. He was oblivious to it all."What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these" they both couldn't stop laughing. The Doctor glanced at them confused, what was so funny? "What? Stop it!". After they'd calmed down, the Doctor tried finishing what Rose had been doing but failed. It had some kind of deadlock on it. "What are they teaching these kids?" he asked them frowning. Suddenly every computer came alive and green light beamed out of them, numbers racing across the screens.

"You wanted the program – there it is" Sarah-Jane commented.

"Some sort of code…." He said, trying rack his brains for an answer. Suddenly realization hit him."No…no….they can't be" Outside, Donna was stood next to the car, completely bored and thinking up a thousand new ways to murder the Doctor. Her favorite was him choking on a banana or Donna pushing him out of the Tardis in mid-flight and into the time vortex. She chuckled to herself. Suddenly a little ginger kid came running up to her and started saying they were taking them all and he needed help. Donna opened the car door and whacked K9 on the head. He came to life.

"No time to explain we need to get inside the school. Do you have like, I don't know, a lock picking device?"

"We are in a car" the dog replied. Donna asked different questions and got the same reply, We are in a car.

"Oh bloody hell, fat lot of good you are. You're giving space-boy a run for his money" she snapped before it dawned on her."Yes, car, of course! Kenny get back!" she yelled at the kid before getting into the vehicle. Inside, the Doctor realized the Krillitanes were using the children as brain power to break the code of the universe. Then Mr. Flinch walked into the room and once again tried to tempt the Doctor into joining them. For a second, Rose thought maybe the Doctor was considering it but Sarah-Jane pulled him back and he snapped out of it. Meanwhile, Donna started the car and drove straight into the glass doors, smashing the windows. "Kenny, let's go!" she yelled and the kid followed her inside. They ran to the bottom of the stairs where they ran into the Doctor, Sarah-Jane and Rose.

"Are they my teachers?" he asked alarmed at the sight of three Krillitanes flying about.

"Yeah, sorry" the Doctor said quickly and the group which included K9 ran into the canteen with the Krillitanes following behind. The creatures swooped down on them and the Doctor attempted to beat them off with a chair while Rose shoved Donna to the ground and Sarah-Jane ducked under a table. K9 came to their rescue, shooting out red rays at the Krillitanes.

"K9!" Sarah-Jane gasped.

"Suggest you engage running mode mistress" K9 croaked. The Doctor yelled at them and the group quickly ran out of there and into the physics lab, leaving K9 to distract them all. The Doctor decided they needed a way to distract the Krillitanes to get to the kitchen. Kenny smashed in the fire alarm.

"Donna, get all of the kids out of the school" the Doctor said as they ran out there. Donna did as he was told and the Doctor, Sarah-Jane and Rose ran into K9 in the corridor. The dog followed them into the kitchen."They've been deadlock sealed!" the Doctor exclaimed when trying to use his sonic screwdriver to open one of the oil barells."Finch must have done that. Can't open them"

"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser. But my batteries are failing" K9 replied.

" Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me" Sarah-Jane, Kenny and Rose ran out of the backdoor leaving him alone with the tindog.

"Capacity for only one shot, Master. For maximum impact, I must be placed directly beside the vat"

"But you'll be trapped inside!" the Doctor pointed out, alarmed.

"That is correct" K9 answered.

"I can't let you do that" the Doctor said softly.

"No alternative possible, master"

"Goodbye old friend. You good dog" the Doctor smiled and stroked him before running out of the back door. The Doctor joined Donna, Sarah-Jane and Rose outside and they all watched as the school exploded. Sarah-Jane was upset when the Doctor had told her what had happened and now they were all stood in the Tardis console room. Donna had slapped the Doctor on the way back for making her stay outside although the Doctor believed she just enjoyed slapping him and just wanted an excuse to do so.

"You've redecorated" Sarah-Jane said, glancing around the room.

"Do you like it?" he asked, stood next to the console panel.

"I do" she smiled approvingly.

"We're setting off now, want to come?" Rose offered.

"I can't. It's time I stopped waiting and found a life of my own" Sarah-Jane said gently. A minute later, Rose and Donna waited as the Doctor said goodbye to Sarah-Jane again. He walked back in and it wasn't long before Donna found something to yell about.

"First I ask for you to take us somewhere fun and we end up with bloody Queen Victoria and a werewolf, then when I want to go home, we end up with flying giant bat-like people who want total control of the universe! It's getting beyond annoying. In fact I might as well just stop trying" Donna sighed.

"I'm sure he'll take us somewhere good soon, won't you Doctor?" Rose smiled at him.

"I always take you somewhere good, I don't know what Donnas' going on about" he replied. "So where do you want to go now?"

"Anywhere, I don't care anymore! Every time I ask for somewhere specific, we get the complete opposite, I don't see the point anymore. Just surprise me!" Donna snapped. Rose grinned at her, amused.

"He's so useless!" Rose agreed. The Doctor looked at her surprised.

"Oi, aren't you suppose to be on my side? And anyway, you weren't calling me useless last night" he said, raising an eyebrow, Rose smirked. Donna fell off her seat, mortified.

"Oh my god, you could at least wait until I'm out of the room space-boy! I don't need to hear about your love lives" the Doctor flashed a quick grin at Rose before pulling down on the lever and typing in some random co-ordinates. Donna decided if they carried on flirting and snogging in front of her, forget about the Doctor, she might throw _herself _out of the Tardis mid-flight and into the time vortex.


	18. Cloakwork droids

**A/N : Thank you so much for the lovely reviews. Thank you to lady_clark_weasley_of_books for her suggestion in this chapter which I've tried my best to incorporate into it. Don't expect any update tommorow or X-mas day :) please continue reviewing!**

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Donna sat in the captain's chair flicking through a magazine as the Doctor typed in co-ordinates for wherever they were going next. Rose sat beside Donna, doing her make-up and looking slightly bored. The Tardis suddenly started rocking about but Rose continued applying her lip gloss like nothing was happening. Donna was impressed. The Tardis eventually stopped and Donna threw her magazine to the side. "So where are we?" Rose asked shoving her make-up down onto the floor and standing up.

"Go look" the Doctor smiled. Donna and Rose walked out first. Donna frowned, they were clearly on some kinds of space-ship in a room full of abandoned weapons.

"It's a space-ship" Donna said as if nobody could see that.

"No it's a bus" the Doctor said sarcastically. Donna shot him a warning look.

"Watch it space-boy"

"It looks abandoned" Rose said glancing around.

"I'll just do a quick scan in case there is anything dangerous" the Doctor said walking to the control panal in the centre of the room and pressing some buttons.

"What's the date anyway space-boy?" Donna asked coming up beside him.

"About three thousand years into you're future give or take" he replied."Fifty first century"

"Hey, we're in my time!" Rose pointed out, grinning.

"So where did all the crew go?" Donna frowned.

"Good question, no life readings on board" the Doctor said as he fiddled with some knobs on the panal.

"Well, we're in deep space; they didn't just pop out for a quick fag" Donna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No, I check all the smoking pods" the Doctor replied, taking her seriously. Rose sniggered, Donna looked at him in disbelief. Suddenly the Doctor started sniffing. "Can you smell that?"

"Yeah it smells like my mother's cooking" Donna smirked before the Doctor pressed a button, causing a wall to open up behind them. Rose and Donna followed in behind the Doctor as he walked through the door and were surprised to find themselves in another room with a wall and a 18th century….fireplace.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century! French! Nice mantel. Not a hologram. Not even a reproduction, this actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double-sided, there's another room through there" Donna and Rose watched as the Doctor crouched down and peered through the fireplace. The Doctor was surprised when he saw a little blonde girl peering back at him."Hello!" he smiled.

"Hello" she said back, shyly.

"What's you're name?"

"Reinette"

"Reinette, that's a lovely name!" the Doctor said encouragingly."Can you tell me where you are at the moment Reinette?

"Paris!" she replied surprised. The Doctor asked her a couple more questions before standing back up again. Donna frowned at him confused.

"Hold on, you said that this was the fifty-first century" Donna pointed out.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink"

"What the hell is that?" Donna asked.

"No idea, I just made it up. I didn't want to say 'magic door'" the Doctor replied, Rose sniggered in amusement.

"So you're telling me, on the other side of the 'magic door', is 18th century France?"

"Yep" he replied, popping the p. The Doctor leant against the fireplace and the wall started to move, taking the Doctor with it.

"Doctor!" Donna and Rose yelled. When the wall turned, the Doctor found himself in an 18th century bedroom. The Doctor was startled by Reinette suddenly sitting up in the bed. After reassuring her that he wasn't going to hurt her, he found out it had been months for her since they'd spoken through the fire place and he noticed that her clock was broken, which had him slightly worried. Then he noticed a creepy figure stood beside Reinettes' bed wearing a freaky clown-like mask. The Doctor examined it and was horrified when he realized what it was doing.

"You've been scanning her brain! What for? She's just a little girl!"

"You want me?" Reinette asked it quietly.

"Not yet. You are incomplete" it croaked before it went for the Doctor. The Doctor swiftly shoved the droids blade into the mantel and stood back onto the fireplace and grinned at Reinette as it turned and they were back in the space ship. He quickly grabbed what looked like a gun and froze the droid with it before it could hurt him.

"Doctor!" Donna yelled running towards him."Where did that thing come from?"

"Here" he replied.

"So why is it dressed like that?" Donna asked, eying the droid's 18th century outfit.

"Field trip to France, some kind of basic camouflage protocol - nice needlework! Shame about the face" the Doctor said as he lifted off the clown mask to reveal mechanical clock work encased In a plastic head. The Doctor thought it was beautiful but the droid suddenly came to life and teleported itself away."Short range teleport, can't have gone far, could still be on board. Do not go looking for it!" the Doctor said, shooting a pointed look at Donna and Rose.

"Oi, I'm not completely useless you know space-boy" she growled.

"Hey could of fooled me" he snapped.

"You're being rude!" Rose interrupted and glared at the Doctor.

"Sorry Donna" he muttered reluctantly. Donna grinned at Rose as the Doctor turned away."I'll be back in a sec" he told them as he headed to the fire place. After he went, Donna started walking off in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?!" Rose asked, alarmed.

"I'm going to look for the droid" she replied simply, ignoring the Doctor's orders as usual.

"But he said-"

"Look Rose I know what space-boy said, he always says stuff like that but he doesn't mean it!" Donna smirked and before Rose could do anything, disappeared out of sight. Damn it, Rose thought irritated and decided to go look for the Doctor before Donna could get herself into trouble. She glanced down at her vortex manipulator; she had to use it on their last trip out where they nearly got killed by cyber men on a parallel world and Donna had met a parallel version of her dead father, who was a multi millionaire. Donna had been upset when he'd rejected her and her mother and granddad had died in the crossfire of the cybermen but she'd recovered in time for this trip and long story short, her manipulator now had just enough power to take her to wherever the Doctor happened to be and since Donna was more than likely going to get herself killed, Rose decided she'd use it and put it back on charge right away. She took a deep breath, dialed in the code and disappeared in a flash of light. When she reappeared, she found herself in an old fashioned bedroom and spotted the Doctor standing dangerously close to a beautiful, blonde woman. They didn't notice her presence and she decided evasdrop for a second.

"Well, you seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real" the blonde purred. Rose coughed loudly. The Doctor, who had appeared mesmerized by the blonde woman, glanced up startled.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked politely, keeping her cool.

"No!" the Doctor said quickly moving away."Reinette, this is Rose, my…err…."

"Lover" Rose said huskily. Reinette looked at her shocked and looked at the Doctor for confirmation.

"Yeah like she said and Rose, this is Reinette, you know the little girl from the fire place. She's a little older now"

"I can see that" Rose smiled.

"Mademoiselle Poisson!" a voice called out from outside the room, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. The Doctor's eyes widened with surprise as a servant entered.

"No... no, no, no, no, no way, Reinette Poisson?! Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France? Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan? Fantasti_c_ gardener!" the Doctor laughed as he stood beside the fire place with a bewildered Rose and an annoyed looking servant.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"I'm the Doctor and I just met Madame De Pompadour!" the fireplace moved and the Doctor still looked dazed as they made it to the other side, Rose looked at him annoyed.

"What was all that about? You two were so close, you looked as if you were going to kiss!"

"I know!" he grinned smugly and then realized who he was talking too."I mean, I know but I wouldn't have let it happen" Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Kissing her would only have told you what I already know" she said a few seconds later.

"What's that?" he asked.

"You can't get much better than me" Rose said huskily before grabbing the Doctor's tie, pulling him towards her and smacking her lips against his. They kissed for about ten seconds before Rose pulled away remembering Donna. The Doctor still wore the surprise expression that he'd been wearing when she'd suddenly kissed him, to her amusement."Donna buggered off to look for that droid" the Doctor snapped out of it.

"What? Does that woman ever listen to what I tell her? Its rule number one- don't wander off and don't go searching for dangerous droids!" he spat and pulled Rose down a corridor. They stopped in surprise when a horse appeared in front of them. The Doctor blinked before carrying on down the hallway, the horse following them. The Doctor stopped and looked at it, irritably."Will you stop following us? I'm not you're mother!" Rose suppressed a giggle; she didn't let it out because the Doctor looked pissed off. The horse rubbed its face against him, to his annoyance before he spotted a pair of French doors. He walked towards them and opened them."So this is where you came from eh horsey?" Rose raised an eyebrow before her dragged her through them. They hid behind a pillar as Madam De Pompadour and a friend came walking out of the big mansion. They both held umbrellas and were giggling about something. After they'd gone, the Doctor pulled Rose back into the space-ship and they walked down the corridor and spotted Donna glancing through a window that looked out into a luxurious 18th century room.

"Blimey, who does that guy think he is?" Donna asked, staring at the man, who entered the room with two servants.

"King of France" the Doctor replied. She jumped back, startled.

"Bloody hell, space-boy, you nearly gave me a heart attack"

"Donna, I specifically told you NOT to go looking for that droid. Rule number one : don't wander off. Rule number two: always listen to the Doctor"

"I've never been good with rules" she said tonelessly."And besides you just made the second rule up, I've never heard it before"

"It still applies!" the Doctor said exasperated."Anyway, see these?" he pointed to the window."They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history... Hers_. _Time window... deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty-first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. _Why?_"

"So who she?" Donna asked.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women that ever lived" Rose rolled her eyes.

"But I bet she can't fight aliens" Donna smirked at Rose's comment. The watched as Reinette stood up from where she was sat in the room and looked around suspiciously. Suddenly a clockwork droid appeared out of nowhere and the Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher Donna had been carrying around for protection and used it to turn the mirror around. Reinette started beaming with relief.

"Fire place man!" she cried as he sprayed at the droid with the extinguisher causing it to freeze before chucking it back at Donna, who had followed him through along with Rose. The droid proceeded to switch itself back on and melt the ice. The Doctor got Reinette to order it to answer his questions and the Doctor discovered that the droids needed certain body parts to repair their ship and it was after Reinette for the next part. Reinette got so angry she ended up ordering it to go away, which it did, back onto the ship.

"Rose, take Donna and Arthur and go back onto the ship and go after it. Follow it, don't approach it just watch what it does" the Doctor ordered.

"Arthur?" Rose asked him, completely puzzled.

"Good name for a horse" he replied.

"You are not keeping the horse!" she hissed before she and Donna ran through the mirror portal and shut it behind them. The Doctor turned back to Reinette and asked her to trust him which she did. He placed his fingers on her temple and entered her mind. Meanwhile, Rose and Donna walked down the hallway.

"So what do you think of Madam De Pompadour?" Donna asked Rose, saying Madam De Pompadour in a posh voice. Rose smiled.

"She seems like a real treat. She obviously gets around a lot"

"The nerve of her though!" Donna said, looking indignant."We help save her and she barely notices we exist. The only one she does notice is the Doc-"Donna was cut off by a metal hand grabbing her by the neck.

"Donna!" Rose shrieked before another droid came up behind her before she could use the fire extinguisher on it. The Doctor was looking through Reinette's mind when she suddenly started referring to him as the Doctor. Then she started empathizing with him, she'd entered his mind also.

"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonely now. How can you bear it?" the Doctor pulled away from her.

"A door, once opened, can be stepped in through in either direction. Oh Doctor, _my _lonely Doctor, dance with me" Reinette held her hands out to him and an image of Rose flashed through his mind.

"I can't"

"Dance with me!" she demanded.

"This is the night you dance with the king" he said stiffly.

"When then first I shall make him jealous" she persisted. "I can't" she looked at him sadly. "There comes a time, time lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance"

"I already know how too thanks" the Doctor insisted and quickly added under his breath."Rose taught me". Donna opened her eyes and realized she'd been chained onto some sort of operating table.

"Space-boy!" Donna called out, slightly alarmed at the sight of five droids standing around them with saws for arms.

"Donna, he's not here" Rose said quietly.

"Oh I'm so going to kill him for this. Of all the times to go swanning off with a French whore" she spat, viciously.

"You are compatible" a droid in a blue coat said, approaching Donna. Donna glared at it.

"Oi, am I flipping heck. Go to hell!"

"You are compatible" it repeated and held it saw out in front of her.

"Yeah Donna you might not want to argue when it has a saw pointed at you" Rose hissed.

"Ah, you're not going to get away with" Donna said nervously."The Doctor will destroy you all. Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them? They had a name for our friend. They had myths about him, and a name. They called him the..." Donna was distracted by a loud banging noise and the sound of drunken singing in the distance. "They called him the- the- they called him the-" she stopped when the Doctor came staggering in, wearing a tie around his head and a pair of sunglasses. Donna looked at him furious, what a time to get drunk.

"And still have begged for moooore... I could've spread my wings and done a thou-- have you metthe French? My... GOD, they know how to party"

"Oh look what the cat dragged in, the oncoming storm" Donna hissed angrily.

"Oh you sound just like you're mother" he said distastefully. Donna would have slapped him except she was shackled to a table, about to be killed and he was her only hope.

"What have you been doing?" she asked, causing the Doctor to ramble on for a couple of minutes before finally getting to the point and chucking wine down the droids heads. He deactivated the others by pulling a lever before releasing Rose and Donna.

"I need to close all the other time windows down" the Doctor told them as he moved to a computer."The computer isn't working. Why isn't it working?" the Doctor looked slightly worried. Suddenly there was a pinging noise.

" What was that?" Donna asked him, startled.

"I don't know….incoming message?" he suggested.

"From who?" Rose frowned.

"Report from the field... one of them must still be out there with Reinette! That'swhy I can't close the windows, there's an override" suddenly all the droids sprang back to life and the droid from before, approached the Doctor and spilled all of the wine onto the Doctor's shoes. "Well that was a bit clever. Right many things about this aren't good" there was another pinging noise."Message from one of you're little friends?, anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins" the droid said before all of the droids teleported out. Donna glanced at the Doctor.

"What's happening?"

"One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head" he replied."Donna, I need you to do something for me. I need you to go give Reinette a warning" Donna wanted to protest but somebody's life was in danger so she did as she was told but when she got there and tried to talk to Reinette, the woman began scolding her as if as was an ignorant child, which Donna did not appreciate in the least. Ungrateful snob, Donna thought, annoyed.

"You were never supposed to have the droids or the Doctor! None of It was supposed to happen to you" she said once again, exasperated.

"Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child. And I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel" Reinette said angrily. Donnas' eyes flashed with annoyance.

"He's taken you know" Donna said, narrowing her eyes.

"He does not love her" Reinette scoffed."I have seen into his mind" Donna wanted to slap this woman but she heard Rose's voice calling her name. Donna approached the window where Rose was standing.

"We found the time window for when she turns thirty seven" she said before Reinette pushed past her to her annoyance and alarm. "Reinette, no, you can't be here!" Rose hissed.

"So this is his world?" she sighed dreamily but was snapped out of it when they heard screaming in the distance."What was that?!"

"The time window. The Doctor fixed it" Rose said grimly.

"Those screams……is that my future?" Reinette looked alarmed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry" Rose murmured. "Then I must take the slow path" she said and walked back into her own time and out of the ship. Donna felt a pang of pity for her, for just a moment but then it passed and her and Rose headed to where the Doctor was.

"You found it then?" Donna asked approaching him, as he worked frantically.

"They knew I was coming so they blocked it off" he replied.

"I don't get it. How did they get there?"

"They teleported" the Doctor answered. Rose glanced down at her vortex manipulator that had been recharging. The battery was low but it was enough.

"We can go in the Tardis" Donna suggested.

"We can't we're part of events now"

"Well can't we just smash through it?"

"Hyerplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck" he said glumly.

"We don't have a truck!" Donna exclaimed, exasperated.

"I have a teleport" Rose suddenly said. All eyes were on her now; she lifted up her wrist and showed them her time vortex manipulator.

"Where did you get that from?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

"Time agency, long boring story but it'll only work for me. There's just enough power for me to teleport there but after that the battery will die completely and then I'm screwed. And since you've fixed the time windows, I won't be able to get back" Donna looked alarmed, the Doctor looked shocked.

"Rose you don't need to do this, I can smash through the window myself" the Doctor told her. Rose shook her head.

"The universe needed you a lot more than it needs me" she smiled.

"But what if _I_ need _you_?" he asked, sadly and quietly. Rose pulled him in for a hug.

"You'll be fine, you still have Donna"

"Rose, you can't!" Donna pleaded before Rose hugged her too.

"I'll be fine" Rose grinned."I might meet some good looking French guys"

"You won't ever be able to get back!" the Doctor told her again.

"I know that. I'm so glad to have met you Doctor, you too Donna. It's been an honor" she smirked before saluting them. She gave the Doctor a quick kiss on the lips and Donna another hug. They stared at her as she typed in the code into her teleport.

"Good luck Captain" the Doctor said, smiling sadly. Tears began to well up in Donnas' eyes. Rose grinned at Donna.

"Try not to slap him too hard Donna" was the last thing she said before a bright light engulfed her and she vanished. She reappeared in 18th century france, in a huge ballroom, where people were running about like headless chickens. The droids were there and Reinette was kneeling. Two of them had swords pointed at her neck."Why Madam De Pompadour, you look younger everyday" Reinette glanced up at her startled.

"Where's is the Doctor?"

"He couldn't make it, I came instead" Rose said smiling, approaching one of the droids and ripping off it's mask. The crowd gasped. The droid pointed it's sword at her chest. "Forget it. It's over. For you and for me" the droid glanced over her shoulder and saw that there was only a brick wall. The droid repeatedly attempted to use it's teleport and realized it was no use. They couldn't get back to their ship. "The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up" Rose turned away from the droid and looked at Reinette."Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you, what happened?" she asked, shocked.

"They've stopped, they have no purpose now" she replied, looking at the frozen droid. A couple of minutes later, Rose stood with Reinette looking out of a window, a glass of wine in her hands. Reinette didn't seem too upset about the Doctor, she was more grateful she didn't die.

"Thank you, once more, for saving me" Rose nodded in reply."But you have trapped your self. You knew that didn't you?" Rose nodded again." You are stuck on the slow path with me"

"Yes, stuck forever" she sighed, looking at her broken vortex manipulator with despair she refused to show.

"No you are not. You helped me so now I can return the favor" Reinette said softly and linked Rose before leading her into her bedroom and to her fireplace."It is not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail" A grin spread on Rose's face.

"The link is still here! It's still physically here which means if I am very, very lucky….." Rose banged on the mantelpiece like she saw the Doctor do and the wall started to move."Bye then, Reinette and thank you"

"You are welcome" she heard Reinette call out as the wall closed. Rose beamed and ran down the corridor and to the room where the Tardis had parked. She wasn't stuck afterall! She couldn't wait to see the Doctor and Donnas' faces but when she entered the room, to her shock, the Tardis had started to dematerialized. They had left her behind and they didn't even know it! "Damn it!" she yelled at no one in particular. In the Tardis both the Doctor and Donna were depressed. Donna picked up Rose's make up from the floor and chucked it into her bedroom. From the Doctor's expression, she could see he wanted to be left alone right now so she sat down on her bed and stayed in her room. Why did Rose have to be a hero? Why did they have to land here? Damn those bloody droids for doing this, now they had lost their friend. Suddenly an idea came to her.

"Doctor!" Donna cried, re-entering the console room. The Doctor looked up from what he was doing, his sadness reflected in his eyes."You can use the Tardis and pick Rose up!"

"I can't, I already thought of that Donna" he sighed.

"Why can't you?" she asked.

"We've become part of events, we cannot go back to that part of time and the time that we can go back to get to her, Rose will be in her eighties" Donnas' eyes widened with despair.

"Oh"

"Donna, I just want to be left alone okay?" he asked sounding frustrated. Donna nodded and walked back into her bedroom, disappointed. Things weren't going to be the same without Captain Rose Tyler around to liven things up.


	19. Whatever happened to Captain Rose Tyler?

**A/N : This is a X-mas present to everybody who has reviewed my story so far! thank you. Now I know this isn't a episode and it's completely from Rose's point of view but it's important to my story and it's also to replace the Cybermen two parter which has already happened before the events of the previous chapter. Hope you like, merry Christmas.**

* * *

It was 1906, in Cardiff, when a flash of light suddenly appeared and a girl ran out of it. Stunned, shocked, horrified passers by looked on and noticed with horror that the young woman was virtually half naked!. Captain Rose Tyler frowned as she took in the outfits of the people around her. Woman, were dressed in long frilly dresses, holding umbrellas and the men wore old fashioned suits and bow ties. Something was definitely off about this. She looked at her vortex manipulator, she had been aiming for Cardiff 2006 but something must have gone wrong since she was standing in 1906 instead. Well at least she got Cardiff right!. "Shit" she muttered. When she had realized she was stuck on that space ship, the Doctor had left and she had no means of escape, she'd just about managed to bring her manipulator back to life using the computer on the ship but it only gave her enough power to make one trip and now it had burnt out completely. It must have not had enough power to take her all the way to 2006. Great, she thought miserably. She was going to grow old and die in the flipping 20th century. This was just her bloody luck. She glanced up again and it hit her that people were staring at her with disgust and shock. She glanced down at her denim mini skirt and tight pink vest top. Maybe not so appropriate for 1906, she realized. A slow smile spread on her face."Sorry folks but can someone tell me where the nearest clothes shop is?"

"Er….it's just around the corner, dear" middle age woman said politely even though Rose could tell what she was really thinking.

"Thanks" she said quickly and ran away from the crowd's stunned glances as fast as she possibly could. She walked around the corner and frowned when she saw the clothing shop. Marion's fashions. In the display, where a bunch of frilly, disgusting, flowery dresses that Rose wouldn't be caught dead in but it seemed she didn't have any other choice. She walked in, picked out a pink frock (it was the nicest they had and the futherest from making her look like a granny) and a matching hat before she marched into the changing rooms. Donna would take out a camera and fall down laughing if she could see Rose now, Rose thought with dismay as she glanced at herself in a mirror. She walked back out; leaving her clothes behind and ran as quick as she could before anyone could realize she'd stolen the outfit.

* * *

Underneath Cardiff, in a small base, a man called Curtis Jackson knocked on his bosses' door. "Come in!" a voice called out. Curtis walked in and pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose. His boss sat at a desk, filling in paperwork.

"We have had a sighting sir" he said jumping to the point. The boss's head shot up in surprise.

"Which one is it?" the boss asked hesitantly.

"Rose Tyler sir"

"Are you positive?"

"I checked the sketches twice and she fits the description that Queen Victoria had written about" he replied."And she wasn't wearing much clothing either"

"Ah yes, Queen Victoria did warn us that they may be half naked"

"What shall we do sir? one of the team spotted her running out of Marion's fashions in a stolen dress, an obvious attempt at camouflaging herself"

"Get her, take backup if you must, which I think will be necessary" the boss ordered. Curtis nodded his head briskly before walking back out of the office and gathering up some of his fellow team mates. They walked out of what they called the hub and into the centre of Cardiff where they spotted her sat next to a fountain, cross legged to their suprise.

"Jackson, how do we do this?" one of the men asked.

"We grab her and take her back the hub then give her to the boss" Curtis replied before they ran towards her. Rose's head shot up quickly and her eyes widened in shock as two men dragged her up from her place on the ground. The buggers probably caught her shoplifting the dress.

"I'm sorry, I can give the dress back! I needed something to wear, I don't have any money or anything!" she protested and tried to break free of them but then a tall, lanky man, wearing circular glasses pulled a gun out on her.

"This is not about the dress" the man said coldly."You are Rose Tyler"

"How do you know my name? are you aliens or something?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously."Because if you are, thank god, because then maybe the Doctor will show up and save me"

"Quiet young girl!" he hissed."After you were banished, Queen Victoria formed an organization that was created to keep the world safe from people like you. We are torchwood and you are coming with us" Rose wanted to scream but someone hit her on the back of her neck and she fell unconscious. When she awoke she realized she was tied to a chair in a dark room. A broad man stood glaring at her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"The hub. You have been kidnapped and you will be killed unless we can reach an agreement" the man said tonelessly.

"Okay, I'll choose the agreement over death any day. What sort of agreement is it then?"

"We are an organization, made to keep the world safe against aliens but the problem is none of us have the right expertise. You do"

"And…..?" she looked at him blankly.

"We would like you to work for us and help us catch the man called the Doctor. We assume you know him" the man said sitting down on a chair opposite her.

"What do I get in return?" Rose asked tonelessly.

"You're life and you're freedom if you catch him" he replied.

"I can't betray the Doctor like that" she said truthfully.

"Then you will die. What will it be?" Rose thought about if for a moment. If the Doctor did land on Earth, she could figure out a way to escape this stupid group of people and could just go off with him and Donna again in the Tardis. Nobody had to betray anybody. It was that simple.

"I'll take the job"

"Good girl, you have made the right decision" the man said approvingly."Now come with us and we shall find you somewhere to stay and some clothes" he untied her and Rose followed him out. One day the Doctor would come back for her, she knew it, she could feel it in her heart.

**100 years later.**

Rose sat in her office filling out yet another lot of paperwork. It was what came with being the Captain of a Torchwood branch. It was a pain in the ass too but she was used to it, she had been doing it for the last century after all. She shoved her paperwork to one side for a moment, she'd get back to it in a moment, right now though she was taking a break. She sipped the cup of coffee her favourite employee Ianto had made for her as her eyes landed on the jar that sat on the filing cabinet next to her desk. In the jar was purple liquid and…..a hand. But not any hand, no, because that would be just sick to keep a random hand in a jar in her office. But all it was, was the Doctor's hand and her way of finding him. After the first twenty years, she'd begun to lose hope of ever seeing him again and thought that would be that but overtime, she wanted answers. Answers to the pile of questions she needed to ask him. She was determined to find him, even if it meant waiting another two hundred years, hopefully she wouldn't have too but if it came down to it she would. Rose sighed, looked away from the hand and got back to her paper work, which just thrilled her to bits. Captain Rose Tyler longed for the days, she got up, got dressed, walked into the console room of the Tardis, watched as Donna slapped the Doctor for sticking his foot in his mouth as usual and then the best part, stepping out of the Tardis onto some unknown planet. It beat doing boring paper work any day. Rose sighed. She missed her best friends, the only real family she'd ever known.


	20. The wire

**A/N : I want to say a big thank you to everybody who has bothered to review my story so far. I hope you like this chapter and please keep reviewing because they motivate me to keep on writing and let me tell you now, this story has been at times difficult to write but I always love a challenge I guess..... :p.**

* * *

Two weeks after losing Rose, Donna was sat in the console room painting her nails when the Doctor suddenly came bouncing in with the first big grin she'd seen on space-boy's face since Rose had left."Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

"What me? Never better!" he beamed and happily leapt around the console panel.

"Doctor you're starting to scare me" Donna said, slightly alarmed.

"Donna, look, honestly, I'm fine. I'm brilliant. Fantastico!"

"Err, whatever you say space-boy" _Fantastico?_ was that even a word? Donna thought to herself.

"Get changed, those clothes aren't appropriate" he told her. Donna narrowed her eyes at him before lowering him to her snow white fluffy jumper, grey jeans and trainers.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" she demanded. There was nothing that seemed inappropriate about her clothes, to her. Four weeks ago Rose walked in wearing a short tartan mini skirt and white blouse with most of the buttons unfastened and he was more than cool with it.... yet it was _her _outfit was inappropriate?

"Wrong time period for were we're going. Remember the conversation we had little more than a year ago about blending in with people?" Donna rolled her eyes.

"You should of just said that space-boy"

"Instead of babbling, why don't you just do as I tell you?" the Doctor snapped. Donna wasn't so worried anymore, he was back to being a grouch like he had been for the past two weeks.

"Yes sir" she said and saluted him mockingly as if she was in the army. Normally she would have slapped him but she was determined to be as kind to him as possible since he'd lost his girlfriend recently and everything. Although, Donna thought as she walked to the wardrobe, Rose had been her best friend but she wasn't acting moody because of it. But then again she had meant more to him than Donna.

"Wait!" Donna called back."You never said what year!"

"Elvis in the fifties. What do you think, fancy it?" Donna instantly felt sad. Rose had been nagging the Doctor to take her to see Elvis for ages. Well at least if they did this, he might get some closure over the whole thing which she assumed he was aiming to do.

"Great, I'll be out in a sec" and she was. By the time she walked in, in her pink floaty dress and short blue jacket, the Doctor had combed his hair in a fifties quiff and they were ready to go.

"You look nice" he grunted.

"Thanks" she replied. A few minutes later, Donna flung open and walked out. "I personally think we should of gone and seen him in the sixties" from inside the Tardis she heard the Doctor's reply and was relieved when it was more than a grunt.

"Donna are you crazy? If you want to see Elvis you go to the late fifties, the time before burgers, when he was called the 'pelvis' and still had a waist" Donna smiled, amused and waited for him to come out. When he did, she was surprised to see him, drive out on a blue moped. He grinned at her before doing his best Elvis impression."You going my way doll?"

"What?!" the Doctor looked mildly disappointed that Donna had no idea what he was doing.

"You need to get cultured up or something" he muttered.

"Excuse me if I'm not an Elvis fanatic" she scoffed and took a seat on the back of the moped after placing a pink helmet over her ginger ponytail.

"Donna you are incredible" he said with a look of disbelief plastered across his face.

"Whatever just start driving space-boy we don't have all day"

"Actually Donna, tech-"

"Oh just shut up and drive" she snapped and he immediately obeyed."Where are we going then?"

"Ed Sullivan TV studios, Elvis did 'hound dog' there and it drew loads of complaints. If we're lucky we'll just about make it in time to see it"

"And this is tv studios in New York right?" Donna asked, hanging on to him as they drove down the street.

"That's the one" he replied, grinning before a red London bus whizzed past them. Donna raised an eyebrow and glanced around the streets.

"Oh this is very New York alright" she smirked.

"Hey, it could still be New York" the Doctor said uncertainly. Then the two looked up and saw a line of union jacks hanging off the rooftops of some houses.

"You're driving skills just get better and better" Donna remarked.

"Oi, at least we didn't end up in Cardiff 1906, that would of been a lot worst" the Doctor said in his defence.

"I guess you're right but what are all the flags for?" Donna asked, confused.

"Let's go find out shall we?" the Doctor said brightly and continued driving down the streets and stopped when he saw a man in a van handing a tv over to a boy, who excitedly took it into his house.

"There you go sir, all wired up for the great occasion!" he called out after the kid.

"What great occasion?" the Doctor frowned at the man. The man stared at him, surprised and slightly taken back.

"Where've you been living? Only the coronation!" the man answered.

"What coronation's that then?" the Doctor remarked and received a stare off Donna.

"Queen Elizabeth's dumbo! You're the time lord, I thought you knew you're history!" the Doctor didn't need to look at her to know she was taking great pleasure at his ignorance.

"Oh so is this 1953 then?" the Doctor asked ignoring Donnas' smugness.

"That it is" the man replied, a bit taken back.

"Hey look at all the tv aerials, it looks as if everyone's got one which is strange cause granddad said tellies were rare back then" Donna commented.

"Not round here, love. Magpie's marvellous tellies cost only five quid a box. Now everyone can watch the coronation"

"That's a brilliant idea!" the Doctor beamed.

"Please someone help me!" a woman voice's cried from behind them and the Doctor and Donna turned in alarm, just in time to see a man with a blanket over his head being bundled into a police car."Leave him alone he's my husband!" the Doctor and Donna exchanged a look before running towards the car.

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked her.

"Oi, what are you doing?!" everyone watched as a boy ran towards them, alarmed but the car drove off, leaving behind a weeping wife and a confused Doctor and Donna. But when they tried to question the boy about what had happened, his father called him back in angrily and he hadn't managed to finish what he was saying.

"Donna, let's go" the Doctor said quickly to Donna, who instantly followed him back onto the back of the moped before driving off after that car. Unfortunately, they had managed to shake them of."Lost them, how did they get away from us?!"

"I'm more surprised they didn't arrest you for reckless driving back there. Have you got a liscense for anything?!" the Doctor shot Donna a glare.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do" he said ignoring Donnas' comment.

"How about we ask the neighbours?" she suggested.

"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach" Donna frowned.

"Oi, was that an insult?!" but she didn't an answer as he carried on driving, the wind smacking across cheeks. They'd ended up back at that boy's house, Tommy his name was and they interviewed his mother who was a gentle woman and explained what had happened around there. Her husband was not so gentle and Donna was highly amused when the Doctor lost his temper and more or less told the guy to shut it before Tommy showed them up his grandmothers room. When the lights came on, the Doctor and Donna were startled to find the woman had no face. She was completely faceless. Nothing there at all. "Oh my god!" Donna had gasped as the Doctor pointed his sonc screwdriver at her face and started scanning it.

" Scarcely an electrical impulse left. Almost complete neural shutdown, she's ticking over like her brain has been shut down"

"What we going to do, Doctor?" Tommy asked bewildered." We can't even feed her" suddenly they were all startled by the crash of police men entering the house. They marched up the stairs and kicked the door in, ready to steal her away. The Doctor stepped in front of her.

"Hold on a minute! There are three, important, brilliant and complicated reasons why you should listen to me. One-" the Doctor didn't get to finish rambling as a fist met his face and knocked him out cold. He woke a few moments later to see Donna hovering over him, looking worried.

"Doctor?!"

"Huh?" he grunted.

"Oi space-boy wake up!" she hissed and slapped him a few times before he finally managed to pull himself up.

"I'm up!" he replied."Hell of a right hook" he said before the pair of them belted down the stairs, only Donna was slowed down by her pink kitten heels while the Doctor ran out of the door, to the moped and drove off into the night, leaving her behind at the house, to her annoyance.

You get out of my house!" Mr Connelly growled. Donnas' eyes flashed with anger."Don't talk to me like that or I'll slap you" she hissed."It's bad enough you treat you're own family that way. I'm going now, have a nice night" Donna stormed out of the house furiously before Mr Connelly could reply.

Meanwhile, the Doctor found himself at a warehouse and walked behind the side of the building. He watched two policemen locking up a pair of gates and after they were gone, he used his sonic screwdriver to sneak in. When he walked in, he didn't know what he'd find but was startled when he saw several dozen people all without faces stood inside clenching and unclenching their fists in a creepy manner. Suddenly a bright light shone on the Doctor and he was faced with two police men.

"Stay where you are" they ordered. The Doctor didn't object and allowed them to escort him to the detective's office. While that was happening, Donna had a realization. She had been staring at all the TV aerials and she put two and two together. All those cheap tvs and all those faceless people. She marched herself right over to Magpies and confronted him, only for to be confronted by the woman in the TV that went by the name of 'the wire' and informed Donna that she fed on people's faces right before she fed on a surprised and horrified Donna.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. Doctor!" she screamed.

"Tell me everything you know" the detective, inspector Bishop demanded. The Doctor sat in the chair calmly, not in the least bit intimidated.

"Well for starters i know you can't wrap your hand around you're elbow and make you're fingers meet"

"Don't get clever with me! You were there today at Flozel street breaking into the establishment" Bishop snapped.

"Well the thing is detective inspector Bishop-"

"How do you know my name?" Bishop growled. The Doctor eyed the mans collar.

"It's written inside you're collar" he explained."Bless you're mum but I can't help thinking, detective inspector that you're not doing much detective inspecting are you?" he asked." All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can. Don't tell me - orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day... the eyes of the world are on London Town... so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight" at this Bishop sank down into his chair and explained to the Doctor how the country has an image to maintain but he wanted to help, really except he didn't have the faintest idea where to start. That's where the Doctor came in. A few minutes later when they were looking at some files, the office door swung open and a police man came through, pushing in a body with a cloth over her head.

"Found another one sir" he said. The Doctor glanced up and dropped the files as he recognised the bottom of the pink dress and the shoes. The cloth came off and sure enough, there stood a faceless Donna, only recognizable by her clothing and wild red hair.

"Donna" he breathed horrified.

"Do you know her?" Bishop asked but the Doctor wasn't really paying attention. His best friend stood before him without her face. In normal circumstances, the Doctor would thank the heavens Donna couldn't speak but now it was a complete nightmare. This was the second time in a month something bad had happened to a friend.

"Know her? I...." he tried to reply but he couldn't think straight.

"They found her in the street apparently, over at Master Square abandoned" the cop told Bishop, grimly. Bishop seem surprised by this.

"That's unusual, out in the open. God help us if something happens in public tommrow for the big day, we'll have torchwood on our back make no mistake"

"They did what?" the Doctor asked, soung vaguely annoyed, still glancing at Donna with shock.

"I'm sorry?" Bishop asked startled.

"They left her where?!" the Doctor's temper had started to boil which was never a good thing. Not for those responsible for hurting his friend.

"Just in the street"

"In the street?" he whispered. Donna had been treated like trash, she had no way deserved that.."Well that makes thing very simple. Do you know why,?" he slowly turned and glared at the men behind him. "Because now there is no powerful on this Earth that can stop me!"

The next morning, the Doctor and Bishop stormed down the streets until they got to the Connelly's house. The Doctor knocked on and started questioning Tommy but his ass of a father came out and tried to force him back in but Tommy refused and decided to go with the Doctor. As they were walking down a street, the Doctor glanced up at the aerials and it hit him. Donna had known it all along."Why all thse aerials across one street?"

"Block up the road, Mr Magpie he's selling them cheap" Tommy told him.

"Oh is he?"Bishop asked him, interested before him and Tommy followed a rushing Doctor down the street and over to Magpies. The door to the shop was locked but it didn't stop the Doctor and he smashed his way in and found a portable TV that shouldn't even exist yet. That set alarm bells off in his head. The Doctor shouted Magpie's name a few times but no one appeared still. That's when they noticed the TVs turn to static before the screens filled up with people's faces. The Doctor knelt down and gazed at Donnas' face. To his surprise, while all the other faces were mouthing things like help me or get me out of here, Donna was mouthing something completely different.

" _Space-boy I swear I will bloody kill you in your sleep if you don't hurry up and do something!" _The edge of the Doctor's lips twitched with amusement. But he turned serious again the moment Magpies voice penetrated the room.

"What do you think your doing?" Magpie spat.

"I want my friend restored but I think that's a bit much for a little backstreet technician, so tell me, whose really in charge here?" the Doctor hissed, looking thunderous.

"Yoo hoo, I think that must be me" came a voice and they all looked at the TV's to see a woman smiling smugly at them. Bishop and Tommy looked alarmed but for the Doctor it was nothing. "Ooh this one is as smart as paint"

"Sorry gentlemen but you've brought this on yourselves" Magpie said cowardly stepping away as the Doctor questioned her. She told him all of her intended to feed on every single person when they tuned in for the queens coronation. Every one of those one million people were going to have their faces suck off by the wire if the Doctor didn't do anything. The wire then proceeded to attempt to suck their faces into the TV. Unfortunately by the time the Doctor had managed to pull out his sonic screwdriver and save them, Inspector Bishop was on the floor unclenching and clenching his fist, his face gone. While that was happening, Magpie had taken the chance to escape the shop with the wire safely inside the portable television.

"Tommy wake up!" he said and shook the boy. Tommy opened his eyes and leapt to his feet. "Where's Magpie?" he asked Tommy, noticing the shop owners missing presence.

"We don't even know where to start looking it's too late" he whined.

"It's never too late, as a wise person once said - Kylie I think... But the Wire's got a big plan... so it'll need... yes, yes, yes, it's got to harness half the population... millions and millions of people... and where are we?"

"Muswell Hill|" Tommy replied.

"Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill! Which means...... Alexandra Palace - biggest TV transmitter in North London! Ohh! That's why they chose this place! Tommy?" the Doctor looked at him excitedly.

"What are you going to do?" Tommy asked him, bemused.

"We're going shopping" he grinned and dragged the boy out of the shop. Eventually, the Doctor managed to put everything right again. He'd found Magpie climbing up a transmitter before the wire had killed him and that was just before the Doctor destroyed the wire and restored everybody's faces.. Tommy had been reunited with his gran, his mother had kicked her abusive husband out and the Doctor was reunited with a very relieved Donna.v They found each other through a crowd and hugged tightly.

"Another attempt at going somewhere fun and once again we get stuck solving another alien crime" Donna said, half annoyed, half amused."Thanks for saving me space-boy, I would have rather of died than have been trapped in that damn TV for the rest of eternity"

"Well, Donna I never could quite get rid of you?" he smiled and wrapped an arm around and they decided to skip the celebrations and just go back into the Tardis where Donna changed into a pair of jeans and a grey jumper.

"Doctor" Donna took a deep intake of breath as she approached him, he was sat on the captain's chair reading....Donna's eyebrows shot up. Way up. "What the hell?!" Donna looked at the Doctor, opened mouthed and the Doctor went bright red as he hid the book behind his back but it had been too late, she'd already seen it. "Is that what I thought it was?!"

"Rose recommended it!" he snapped.

"And you actually decided to read it? You know Rose, you know what kind of stuff she gets her kicks from, why would you even buy it space-boy?" she demanded, cringing on behalf of the Doctor.

"Rose said it would...." his cheeks went crimson."Spice things up a little with....."

"Oh forget it! I don't want to hear about it!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air."I was going to ask, what if Rose survived and used her vortex thingy majig to get back, did you ever think of that?" The Doctor's cheeks went back to their normal shade and he relaxed slightly. In fact that thought had occurred to him but left as quickly as it had entered. Nobody he....cared about stayed for long. In fact he was waiting for the day Donna wouldn't be here. Not that he wanted it to come but he expected it nevertheless.

"No, Donna, she's gone. There's nothing we can do" he snapped coldly.

"Fine" she sighed."I was only trying to help"

"Yeah I'm sorry, I just don't want to think about her okay?" he said softly to Donna. Donna gripped his hand with her own. It wasn't romantic; it was just her being a good friend as usual.

"You'll be fine, you always are and besides I'm not going anywhere am I?" she smiled.

"Not that I know of"

"I promise I'm going to travel with you forever" she vowed and the Doctor felt touched even though he knew she couldn't keep such a promise. One day something would come along and tear them apart like life did with everyone he ever cared about but for now, he just enjoyed having her with him.


	21. Ghosts & Spheres

**A/N : Took the weekend off this week, so there was a slower update than usual, sorry but I needed a rest! spent all day on this, I have my reasons for skipping the last couple of episodes but mainly I wanted to get onto series 3 sooner, it'll be funner to write and for yuo to read because right now it feels like I'm just writing out episodes!!! thanks for the lovely reviews as usual and if you want me to get up to series 3 by Wednesday, you might want to click the green button at this page :) I'm sure we all want to know who is taking Martha's place in the story.**

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Donna sat in the captain's chair, feeling slightly apprehensive as the Doctor typed in the co-ordinates for home. The last two attempts at going places had gone completely wrong and once again they'd nearly died on one occasion and the second, it was the Doctor who was playing damsel in distress for once. Donna would never let him live it down. The first attempt they'd ended up falling through a black hole, nearly losing the Tardis and getting stuck in another century with a bunch of strangers, although they were lovely people. Of course when they wanted to send someone down to explore what was out on the god forsaken rock they were parked on, the Doctor leapt to his feet and volunteered to go with them, leaving Donna on the space base or whatever the hell kind of base it was, with demon possessed Ood who tried to kill them all. At the bottom of the pit, the Doctor had gone down and he had ran into some Satan wannabe who had been kind enough to predict Donnas' future. She remembered what he'd said and it still sent shivers down her spine._"The valiant woman who will die in battle so very very soon" _the Doctor told her repeatedly not to take it to heart but something about it, managed tp creep her out. Well after defeating the beast, with a bit of a struggle of course, the Doctor decided Donna needed to relax and took her to the Olympics 2012, well attempted to take her was more like it. Kids went missing, they investigated and discovered it was because a strange little girl called Chloe Webster had been drawing them onto paper, literally. When she drew the Doctor, it had been up to Donna to save the day, which she did brilliantly, if she did say so herself. Now after changed into a pair of jeans and a brown sweater , she sat and waited as the Tardis hopefully took her home. "Okay we're here" the Doctor announced and Donna didn't wait a second before rushing out of the Tardis and into her house, where the door was already left open even after all the warnings Donna had given her mum and granddad about robbers.

"Granddad, mum, I'm home!" she yelled as she stood in the living room. Her granddad instantly appeared at the doorway that led into the kitchen.

"Donna! I must be hallucinating!" he beamed and walked towards her, hugging her tight.

"Oh I've missed you so much" Donna said, tears filling her eyes.

"You too, sweetheart. Welcome home" behind them the Doctor coughed, making his presence known."Hello Doctor, have you been taking good care of my Donna?"

"He has when there's no French hoe or beautiful Captains in sight" Donna grinned. The Doctor stiffened at the mention of Rose. Wilfred noticed the absence of the other friend.

"Where's that Captain Rose Tyler from Christmas?" Wilfred asked.

"Gone" the Doctor said, looking sad.

"Oh well, you've still got my Donna and she's not too bad looking herself" Wilfred said, embarrassing Donna.

"Granddad it's not like that with him, the Doctor's like my brother, he's just a mate" Donna replied.

"Donna, you're home" a voice called from behind Wilfred and they saw Sylvia Noble walking into the living room before hugging her daughter."Donna, tell me you're back for good this time"

"Mum!" Donna hissed, pulling away."I'm not back for good, it's just a visit okay?"

"Donna, you cannot possibly want to stay with him forever. When are you going to find a nice man and settle down and have children?" Donna felt a rush of irritation towards her mother, she was trying to nag her into marriage and children yet again. That life was not for Donna anymore though, her life was running and fighting alien forces alongside the Doctor. He needed her more than any normal man.

"Not in this life time" she replied truthfully. The Doctor shifted his feet awkwardly and felt like an intruder.

"Oh I give up" Sylvia sighed. If only, Donna thought annoyed."Your grandmothers going to be here in a minute anyway so I better get some tea ready. Do sit down" Donna watched as Sylvia walked off into the kitchen before turning to Wilfred.

"I didn't know grandma Lucille was planning to visit from Africa" Donna frowned.

"No, she isn't" Wilfred said sitting down beside Donna. The Doctor sat down in an armchair near the window.

"It's your grandma Birdie, remember her? Of course you do, you used to love her!" Donna was too shocked and confused to contradict him. She'd actually hated that old bitch and was still to shed a tear about her death.

"Are you and mum alright? There's not been some kind of outbreak of a rare, mental disease has there?" Donna asked her granddad concerned. Wilfred looked at her blankly.

"What are you talking about Donna?"

"Grandma Birdies heart gave out twelve years ago. Don't you remember?" she asked him gently.

"Of course I do and so does you're mother. Oh here she comes now" Wilfred said standing up and Sylvia came in carrying FIVE cups of tea. Right in front of their eyes, the Doctor and Donna watched in stunned silence as a silvery, ghostly, blurred outline of a person walked towards Wilfred."Here we go then, Birdie, say hello to Donna, hasn't she grown?" the Doctor's eyes widened and he quickly ran out of the house, followed by Donna. Wilfred and Sylvia came to, bewildered by the Doctor's behaviour.

"They're everywhere" the Doctor said to Donna as they looked around saw silver figures playing football with kids in the front gardens of houses and people walking around with silver figures carrying their shopping bags. Suddenly a silver figure walked right through the Doctor. He shivered.

"They haven't got long, Midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade" Wilfred told them.

"Shift? What, do you mean shift? Since when did ghosts have shifts?" the Doctor asked, bewildered as the ghosts all disappeared. The four of them then want back inside the house, where the Doctor proceeded to flick through the channels and to his alarm; ghosts were featured on nearly every single program. The Doctor, horrified by the latest Earth trend, questioned Donnas' family about when it started causing Wilfred to accuse him of spoiling it. The Doctor ignored him though and Donna followed him out to the Tardis.

"According to the paper, they've elected a 'ghost' as an MP for Leeds. And I know you space-boy, your not the type to sit back and do nothing so what are you doing?" Donna asked him and watched as he went underneath the floor to get something. A few seconds later, he popped back out, holding a strange hand device and a rucksack. He started humming the tune of Ghostbusters to Donnas' amusement.

"Who're you gonna call?"

"Ghostbusters!" laughed Donna.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts" Donna followed the Doctor out of the Tardis, still laughing. When they walked out, they walked out into a park, where they had now parked the Tardis. Wilfred stood nearby as he arranged the devices he held in his hand into a triangle."When's the next shift?" he asked, Donnas' granddad.

"Quarter to but don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?" Wilfred eyed the strange equitment, the Doctor had brought out of his ship.

"Triangulates their point of origin" the Doctor replied.

"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Donna suggested.

"They were coming through the rift, Donna, don't you even remember?" he asked sharply.

"Oi I'm only trying to help" she snapped."No need to get snippy with me"

"Sorry" he mumbled as he unwired a cable and walked back into the Tardis, plugging it into the console. Wilfred followed them inside the ship and watched as Donna and the Doctor laughed as Donna kept guessing the wrong button. He sighed, he missed his granddaughter. While the Doctor started setting up the ghost trap, Wilfred stood alone with his granddaughter in the space-ship.

"Your mothers right you know. As much as I love you travelling around the stars, seeing the universe, I hope someday you'll come back to us. We love you Donna" Wilfred sighed.

"Hey, granddad, you know how much I love travelling with space-boy. Sure he drives up the wall sometimes but he's my best friend and he needs me more than you and mum. He's so lonely, he's just lost his girlfriend, you know what that's like don't you? And besides it would take a VERY special man to get me to settle down" Donna hugged her granddad, who looked sad.

"The Doctor's a good man, I just hope he takes good care of you and I hope you take care of him. From the sounds of it, he needs you to" Donna smiled. Her granddad understood much better than her mum."I'm sorry about your friend as well"

"Me too, I wished there was a way we could have saved her but..." Donna sighed and her attention was diverted by what was happening on the outside, shown on the console monitor. The Doctor had captured a ghost and it was trapped in the triangle with three blue lights. It looked as if it was trying to escape but was failing miserably. Outside, the Doctor put on a pair of 3D glasses and adjusted the settings on the device causing a green light to blip for some reason unknown to the Doctor. He adjusted the settings some more and the ghost groaned in pain.

"Don't like that do you? Who are you? Where are you coming from? Whoa! That's more like it! Not so friendly now are you?!" the Doctor grinned and after the ghost disappeared, walked back into the Tardis."I said so!" he told an amused looking Donna."Those ghosts have been FORCED into existence for one specific point! And I can track the source down! Allonsy!" the Doctor pressed some random buttons and pulled down the lever, which usually signalled they were about to go somewhere." I like that. 'Allons-y'. I should say 'allons-y' more often. 'Allons-y'. Watch out, Donna Noble Allons-y! And THEN, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonzo. Because then I could say, 'allons-y, Alonzo'! Every time! You're staring at me"

"Ha, don't flatter your self space-boy, you didn't bother even stopping for breath then did you? If you had, you might have allowed me to tell you my granddads still on board" the Doctor froze and glanced at a bewildered Wilfred. Then he shrugged and started moving again.

"Ah well, could have been worst. It could have been your mother" Donna didn't disagree with that. The Doctor joined Donna around the monitor and as the Tardis appeared in the place where the Doctor had tracked the ghost signal from, about fifty soldiers burst into the room. "Oh well there goes the advantage of surprise. Still, cuts to the chase, stay in here and look after Wilfred"

"Space-boy they've got guns" Donna pointed out.

"And I haven't, which makes me the better person don't you think? They can shoot me dead but the moral high-ground is mine" he grinned and walked out of the ship.

"Oh, oh, how marvellous! Oh very good. Superb. Happy day!" a brown haired woman beamed, joyfully and started clapping to the Doctor's bemusement. The soldiers behind her followed her lead and also started clapping.

"Um, thanks, nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor" he said, introducing himself, causing another round of clapping.

"Oh I should say, hurray!" the woman smiled.

"You...you've heard of me then?" he asked slowly.

"Well of course we have and if it wasn't for you, NONE of us would be here. The Doctor and the Tardis!" she replied, still smiling broadly.

"And you are?" he looked at her slightly suspicious.

"Oh, plenty of time for that. But according to the records, you're not one for travelling alone. The Doctor and his companion. That's a pattern isn't it, right?" their eye met and she gave him a cold, hard stare."There's no point hiding anything from us. Where is she?" she smiled at him again.

"Yes sorry, good point, although what makes you think it's a she?" he opened the Tardis a tiny bit and pulled out Wilfred, to Donnas' shock, "Here he is, Don Noble. Well he used to be a she before he looked into the time vortex and accidently turned her self into a seventy year old man. Mind you, it's a bit of an improvement" inside the Tardis, Donna scowled and made a vow to slap him for that later. Wilfred looked at the Doctor, confused.

"Come with us" the woman ordered and the Doctor, followed by Wilfred, walked on behind her into a plain white hallway."It was only a matter of time until you found us and at last you made it. I'd like to welcome you Doctor" the woman said as she pushed open a door and they walked into the torchwood factory, full of alien artefacts."Welcome to Torchwood" the Doctor walked over to an object and stared at it with disbelief.

"That's a Jathar sun glider!" he exclaimed.

"Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago" she replied.

"What did it crash?"

"No, we shot it down. It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare. The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax Christmas day? That was us" she said smugly while Wilfred and the Doctor swapped incredulous glances. "Now if you'd like to come with me. The Torchwood institute has a motto : if it's alien, it's ours, anything that comes from the sky, we strip it down and we use it for the good of the British empire"

"For the good of the what?" Wilfred asked, thinking he was hearing things.

"The good of the British empire" she repeated.

"There ISN'T a British empire!" Wilfred pointed out.

"Not yet anyway" the woman smirked coldly and as they walked, the Doctor spotted a particle gun that he was pretty sure they were not suppose to have in the 21st century and then the woman suddenly started yapping on about how she was a people person and how important it was to remember names.

"Have you got anyone working here called Alonso?" the Doctor inquired, eagerly.

"No, I don't think so. Is it important?" the woman frowned.

"I suppose not, what was your name?" he asked remembering that he kept thinking of her as 'the woman'.

" Hartman" she told him as he rummaged through a box of alien things. He suddenly pulled out a big black device. "Ah yes Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric "

"Sylvia could do with that to carry the shopping" Wilfred joked but Yvonne took him seriously.

"All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit. Not the general public" Wilfred stared at her with disbelief.

"So what about these ghosts?" the Doctor asked, remembering why he was there in the first place.

"Ah yes the ghosts....they're a side affect, you might say" Yvonne answered him, sounding slightly uncertain.

"Of what?" the Doctor looked at her suspiciously.

"All in good time Doctor, there is an itinerary, trust me" she smiled sinisterly.

"Oi! Where you taking that?!" Wilfred demanded, pointing to the Tardis that was being driven away on the back of a truck.

"If it's alien, it's ours" Yvonne said brightly, which really was starting to get on Wilfred's last nerve.

"You'll never get inside it" the Doctor said, smirking confidently.

"Hm Et cetera" Yvonne said before walking away. The Doctor stared at the Tardis doors as Donna peeked out of it slightly. He nodded at her and turned away. Inside, Donna started searching for the Doctor's coat.

"Physic paper, Physic paper....." she muttered and finally found it, buried deep in the pocket of the trench coat. Meanwhile the Doctor followed Yvonne down a hallway with Wilfred where he found out he was an enemy of the crown thanks to Queen Victoria and Torchwood was named after the house in Scotland. The Doctor felt a bit indignant towards Queen Victoria but didn't let it show as they walked into a big room, almost empty apart from a few computers and a massive gold ball hovering above them all.

"Now what do you make of that?" Yvonne asked, pleased with herself. Suddenly a Asian man wearing a lab coat and big glasses approached the Doctor and started sucking up to him but the Doctor was to immersed with the ball to be even listening. Yvonne and Torchwood had no idea what it was apparently and the Doctor snapped at them and ordered them to send it back into the void, where it came from. When Yvonne mentioned the ghosts, he demanded to be shown where it all happened and walked off, turning left."No, Doctor" she said calmly and he turned right instead. Yvonne and Wilfred followed him to the Torchwood office where the ghost shifts were controlled and Yvonne showed him on the computer in her office what happened.

"Hold on, we're in Canary Wharf!" Wilfred exclaimed, looking out of the window.

"Well that is the public name for it but to those in the know it is Torchwood" Yvonne replied.

"So, you find the breech, probe it, the sphere comes through. Six hundred feet above London, bam. It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, "oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe?" Nah, you think "let's make it BIGGER!" the Doctor hissed sarcastically.

"It's a massive source of energy. If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent. Look, you can see for yourself. Next Ghost Shift's in two minutes" Yvonne replied stuffily. The Doctor proceeded to order her to cancel the ghost shifts and when she refused, he smashed her window with his sonic screwdriver to prove his point before sitting down in the chair next to her desk and began staring her down."Stop the shift!" Yvonne ordered, giving in.

"Thank you" he said gratefully.

"I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible. But the program will recommence, as soon as you've explained everything" she sighed. Downstairs, wearing a lab coat and armed with the Doctors physic paper, Donna sneaked into the room with the big gold ball. That was when Rajesh, the only scientist in the room, caught sight of her. She quickly waved the physic paper in front of her.

"Everyone at Torchwood has a basic level of physic training, you're a fake. Seal the room, call security!" Rajesh said into the speaker, Donna glared at the guy, tempted to hit him on the back of his neck with her hand and knock him while he wasn't looking but it was too late as he turned back to face her."Take a seat" Donna sat down didn't like being ordered around by a rat faced not-it-all, then again she should be used to it considering who she travelled with. Back in Yvonne's office, she got a webcam alert and saw Rajesh looking through it with a red haired woman beside him. "Yvonne? I think you should see this, we've got a visitor. We don't know who she is but funnily enough, she appeared around the same time as the Doctor"

"She one of yours?" Yvonne asked the Doctor. He looked blank.

"Nope never seen her in my life"

"Good then we can have her shot"

"Oi, space-boy, you better do something!" Donna snapped.

"We know her!"Wilfred yelled.

"Okay" the Doctor sighed."Thats Donna Noble"

"Hi granddad" Donna smiled.

"Well if that's Donna Noble, who is he?" Yvonne asked, raising an eyebow at Wilfred.

"Her granddad" Wilfred replied. Before Yvonne could say anything, the sound of the engine of the ghost shift started up. She got up and yelled at everyone to stop but to her horror they were ignoring her. The Doctor realised they were overriding the system, someone was controlling the workers. Down in the Sphere room, the thing itself started causing a disturbance, Rajeesh started dashing about like a headless chicken.

"It's the earpiece controlling them, I've seen it before I'm sorry" the Doctor said sadly, hovering over one of the workers Yvonne followed the Doctor as he ran out of the Torchwood office and down a corridor, Yvonne kept badgering him about who was controlling the workers. The Doctor had an idea but didn't want to believe Doctor pushed through a curtain at the end of the hallway and sure enough there stood his old enemies.

"What are they?" Yvonne whispered.

"Cybermen" he replied, coldly. The cybermen came alive and forced the Doctor and Yvonne back to the Torchwood office, where the ghost shifts were being controlled. Wilfred was staring at the web cam, worry furrowing his brow. He glanced up and his eyes widened at the sight of the cybermen.

"Who are they?" he asked, scared.

"We are the cybermen, ghost shift will be increased to one hundred percent " the metal men croaked coldly.

"All the ghosts are Cybermen" the Doctor said, in realisation.

"They're invading the whole world!" Yvonne exclaimed, mortified.

"They're not invading, it's too late for that, it's a victory" the Doctor said before a computer voice announced the sphere was activated. In the sphere room, Donna's eyes widened with horror as the gold ball started to open. Upstairs, the Doctor found out from the cybermen that they had nothing to do with the sphere.

"Donna's down there" Wilfred cried. Donna watched as the sphere opened completely and her face drained of all colour when she saw what came out of it.

"Oh my god" she gasped, horrified.

"What are they?" Rajeesh asked.

"Daleks" she whispered.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" the four daleks shrieked.


	22. Attack of the Daleks and Cybermen

**A/N : This took yesterday and today to write, sorry if it isn't as good as you thought it would be considering its the series 2 final. I hope you like anyway and there'll be no update tommorow or day after since it is my sweet sixteenth tmoz!!!! lol. As a b-day present, you can review! :).**

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"Daleks!" Donna shrieked as the four metal pepper pots yelled out 'exterminate' over and over again until their heads hurt."You're called Daleks!" the exterminates stopped, a surprised silence fell. "I know your name" Donna said, sounding smug as she approached them."Think about it – how can I know that? A human...who knows about the Daleks. And the time war. If you want to know how then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking, me and my err..." Donna glanced at Rajesh."Friend"

"Yeah, Daleks, time war, me too" Rajesh agreed and Donna rolled her eyes. Typical, the sod wants to get rid of her until his life is in danger.

"You will be necessary. Report – what is the status of the genius's ark?" a bronze Dalek croaked.

"Status – hibernation" the one next to it answered.

"Commence awakening" a black one ordered.

"The genius's ark must be protected above all else" the fourth one added.

"What the bloody hell is a genius's ark?" Donna muttered to herself. Meanwhile upstairs, Wilfred looked at the Doctor alarmed. "What's down there? She was in the room with the sphere, what's happened to Donna?!" the Doctor leant against a wall and looked stressed.

"I don't know" he told the old man truthfully."I'll find her, I brought you here, I'll get you both out. You and your granddaughter, Wilfred it'll be okay, I promise" suddenly a cyberman spoke.

"You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender" it said coldly.

"Oh do some research" Yvonne snapped, bravely."We haven't got a central world authority"

"You have now. I will speak on all global wave lengths" it replied without a trace of emotion. "This broadcast is for human kind" the Doctor slipped on his 3D glasses while the tin man spoke."We will remove, sex, class, colour and creed. You will become like us. I ordered surrender"

"They're not taking instructions, don't you understand? . You're on every street – you're in their homes, you've got their children, of course they're going to fight!" the Doctor hissed angrily. In the sphere room, the Daleks began asking which of the two of them, Donna and Rajesh, were the least important.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Donna demanded.

"Which of you is the least important?" the black one asked again.

"Things might work like that on your world, mate, but here we don't do that" Donna snapped.

"Designate the least important!" the black one roared.

"This is my responsibility" Rajesh said, stepping forwards. Donna grabbed his lab coat.

"Don't "but Rajesh ignored her, broke free and walked right up to the Daleks.

"I represent the Torchwood institute. Anything you need you come through me otherwise leave her alone" Rajesh spoke to the Daleks, clearly nervous.

"You will kneel" the black Dalek commanded.

"What for?" Rajesh asked. Donna had a funny feeling she knew the answer.

"The Daleks need information about current Earth history"

"Yeah well I can give you certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise home land security" Rajesh told them. Donna didn't like where this was going, why, didn't the prat just listen to her?"

"Speech is not necessary, we will extract brainwaves" the Dalek said coldly. Donnas' eyes widened as Rajesh screamed out in agony as they used his suckers and crushed his skull. Donna felt tears well up in the back of his eyes, he might have been a prat but he'd been a brave prat that had attempted to save her life."His mind spoke of a second species invading Earth through the superstition of ghosts"

"You didn't need to kill him!" Donna shrieked.

"Neither did we need him alive" the Dalek said, empty of compassion. Tears fell out of Donnas' eyes and she felt more furious than she'd ever felt in her entire life.

"You stupid piece of metal s-"

"Dalek Thay investigate outside" the black dalek ordered the one on its life, interrupting Donna in the process. Suddenly, Donna saw a screen appear in the room and was alarmed to see Cyber men on the other side before the Cyber men and the daleks somehow got into an outer space bitch fight. If she wasn't so distraught right now, she'd probably have something to add to the conversation or at least find the whole thing amusing but there were no words to express how horrified she was at this moment in time. Meanwhile, the Doctor was shocked and extremely disturbed to learn it was the Daleks that had come out of the sphere and Donna was trapped in a room with the murderous, blood thirsty pepper pots.

"Phone" he hissed at Wilfred, who dug his mobile out of his pants pocket and gave it to the Doctor, who dialled Donnas' number and waited for her to pick it up, hopefully. To his relief, he heard a small whisper of hello. He turned and glanced at a worried Wilfred."She's answered, she's alive. Why haven't they killed her?"

"Don't complain, that's not usually a BAD thing" Wilfred whispered.

"They must need her for something" the Doctor said, grimly.

"We must protect the genesis ark" Dalek Thay said through the Wilfred's phone.

"The genesis ark?" the Doctor muttered then the phone went dead.

"We lost her" Wilfred looked at him, panicked for his granddaughter. Down in the Sphere room, one of the Daleks rewound the CCTV tape and noticed the Doctor.

"Identify grid seven grammar frame. The male registers as enemy!" one of the Daleks croaked and they turned towards Donna."The female's heartbeat as increased"

"Oi, I do not fancy space-boy, not in a million years!" Donna yelled but the Daleks ignored her.

"Identify him" the black Dalek croaked.

"All right, you stupid pepper pots, if you really want to know, that's the Doctor" Donna announced, smirking at them, fearlessly."Five million cyber men easy!, one Doctor? NOW you're scared!" In the Torchwood office, the Cyber men decided to begin their upgrading and grabbed Yvonne Hartman and a terrified Wilfred.

"Doctor!" he cried.

"Wilfred, it'll be okay, I'll think of something!" the Doctor yelled, slightly panicky. Wilfred and Yvonne were taken down the hallway to the curtain bit where she and the Doctor had discovered the Cybermen. Except the difference now was screams of agony came from behind them and they were put in line with other people for the 'upgrade'.

"What's going to happen?" Wilfred asked her, worried.

"I think they remove the brain...." as she said it Yvonne paled dramatically."Sorry...erm...I think they remove the brain and they put it in a suit of armour, that's what those things are. They're us" Wilfred eyes widened with fear.

"Next" a Cyberman ordered and grabbed Yvonne Hartman. Wilfred glared at her.

"This was you're fault, you've killed us all!"

"I did my duty for Queen and country!" she shouted, in tears. Meanwhile, the Doctor say at Yvonne's desk and a cyberman approached him.

"You are proof" it stated coldly.

"Of what?"

"That emotions destroy you" it hissed. The Doctor looked straight at it.

"Yes I am" then he squinted as he noticed something behind the cyberman."Mind you, I quite like hope, hopes a good emotion and here it comes" suddenly there was a flash of blue light and a group of men in black uniforms, carrying big guns and wearing green buttons around their necks, appeared. The Doctor recognised one face in particular from his, Donna and Rose's adventure on the parallel world a couple of months back.

"Doctor, good to see you again" he smiled.

"Jake!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"The Cybermen came through one world to another - and so did we" he replied, still grinning. Down in a corridor, Wilfred was being dragged along by two Cyber men. They stopped to talk to a third and Wilfred seized the opportunity and ran as fast as he could. He flipped open his mobile and punched in Donnas' number. She answered, to his relief.

"Granddad, this isn't really the time to talk" she hissed quietly.

"I needed to see if you were alright" Wilfred whispered.

"I am for now anyway – where are you?"

"I've escaped the Cyber men, I'm in a corridor"

"Granddad, do me a favour and get out of here, I mean it" Donna ordered.

"Donna, I am not leaving you" he said firmly.

"Granddad, I'm a grown woman, I can take care of myself. I need you to go home and check on mum, please Granddad, take care of her" Donna pleaded. Wilfred knew that Donna was a fighter and she'd been doing this alien business a lot longer than he had.

"Fine but I'll kill the Doctor if you don't come home in one piece or at all" Wilfred hissed and hung up before running down the stairs and making his way to the exit. He needed to check on his daughter and protect her, Donna was right. Back in the Torchwood office, Jake was giving orders to the team of people who'd appeared with him.

"Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications. Kill one Cyber leader and they just download into another, move!" the Doctor still sat at the desk, once again whipped on his 3D glasses. The team left the room, leaving Jake alone with the Doctor.

"You can't just – just – just – just HOP from one world to another, you just can't!" the Doctor said, bewildered.

"We just did – with these" Jake pulled the green button off from around his neck and handed it to the Doctor to look at it.

"But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology!" the Doctor said with disbelief.

"We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it. Do you want to see?"

"NO!" the Doctor yelled but it was too late as Jake pressed down on the button and they disappeared in a flash of blue light. They reappeared in a very similar room to the one they just vacated except this one was messier and darker too.

"Parallel Earth – Parallel Torchwood. Except we found out what the Earth was doing and the people's republic took control" Jake told him.

"I've got to get back Donna is in danger and so is her granddad" the Doctor pleaded.

"That would be Wilfred" a voice said and the Doctor spun around and saw Geoff Noble walking towards him in a smart, black suit escorted by two soldiers. "My father-in-law on a parallel universe. And as for you Doctor – at least this time I know who you are"

"Right, yes, fine, hooray but I have to get back. Right now!" the Doctor persisted.

"No, your not in charge here. This is our world, not yours and your going to listen for once" Geoff Noble said calmly. The Doctor wanted to throttle the man. Meanwhile, Donna stood in the Sphere room, completely bored. The Daleks had been staring at the gold triangular-like thing for ages and once of them finally spoke.

" The technology is stolen. The ark is not of Dalek design"

"Then who built it?" Donna asked the black Dalek, who appeared to be the leader.

"The time lords. This is all that survives of their home world" it replied.

"What's inside?" Donna narrowed her eyes at them.

"The future"

The Doctor wasn't happy to say the least but at the very least Geoff Noble had balls. He wasn't like the Geoff Noble he'd met with Donna in the 70's, this man could not be walked all over.

"When you left this world, you warned us there would be more Cybermen. So we sealed them inside the factories" Geoff explained stood next to the Doctor, glancing out over London.

"Except people argued, said they were living, we should HELP them" Jake added.

"And the debate went on" Geoff continued. "But all this time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world and vanished"

"When was this?" the Doctor frowned.

"Three years ago" he replied grimly.

"It's taken them three years to cross the void but we can pop to and fro in a second. Must be sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing the void at once" the Doctor said, staring into the distance. "Donnas' your daughter you do know that?"

"She is the daughter of a dead man" Geoff said tonelessly."Look at that. A world of peace. They're calling this a golden age"

"Who's the president now?" the Doctor asked, obliging to Geoff want of change of subject.

"A woman called Harriet Jones" Geoff replied.

"I'd keep an eye on her" the Doctor muttered darkly.

"But it's a lie. Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all of this is going to be flooded. That's not just global warming is it?"

"No" the Doctor replied truthfully.

"It's the breech" Geoff stated.

"I've been trying to tell you travel between parallel worlds is impossible, then the Daleks break down the walls with the sphere..." the Doctor murmured, stressed.

"Daleks?" Geoff asked, confused.

"Then the Cybermen travelled across, then you lot - those disks - every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe. This planet is starting to boil. Keep going and BOTHworlds will fall into the Void"

"But you can stop it - the famous Doctor...? You can seal the breach?" Geoff asked, looking at him directly in the eyes and grinning slightly.

"And leave five million Cybermen alive on my Earth?" the Doctor looked at him with disbelief.

"That's not my problem, it's yours. Please Doctor, help us" Geoff pleaded.

"What? Close the breach? Stop the cybermen? Defeat the Daleks? You really think I can do that?"

"Yes" Geoff replied confidently and the Doctor flashed him his famous cheeky grin.

"Maybe that's all I need, off we go then!" the Doctor said, bouncing off happily towards Jake and the three of them reappeared in the Torchwood office. He walked out onto a corridor, waving a piece of white paper at the Cybermen who were stood on guard."Sorry" he said, walking right up to them."No white flag, only a piece of a A4, same difference"

"Do you surrender?" it demanded, holding it's weapon up, threateningly.

"I surrender, unto you. A very good idea" he smirked.

Down in the Sphere room, the Daleks were attempting to force Donna into pressing her handprint and awakening the geniuses' ark. She remembered what happened the last time she'd done something like that and decided she'd rather die and then do it without knowing the consequences. "Place your hand upon the casket" they ordered.

"Oh what the hell your going to kill me anyway" Donna lied, playing for time."But if you escaped the time war, don't you want to know what happened?"

"Place your hand-"

"What happened to the emperor" Donna added smug at the fallen silence.

"The emperor survived?!" the black Dalek asked, sounding astonished.

"Until he met me" Donna smirked."And if these are going to be my last words than your going to shut up and listen. I met the emperor and I took the time vortex, spilled it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? God of all Daleks and I destroyed him!" The Daleks started screeching with outrage.

"You will be exterminated!" The black Dalek roared furiously.

"Now hold on a minute" a familiar voice said from behind them and Donna spun around to see the Doctor approaching, casually.

"Alert, alert – you are the Doctor" the Dalek croaked.

"Sensors report he is the Doctor" Thay confirmed.

"Space-boy thought you'd never make it!" Donna grinned.

"Donna, do you not know me at all?" he put on a mocking wounded expression.

"We'll find your granddad in a minute I promise – I need a word with these idiots first" Donna sniggered.

"Oh granddad's alright, he escaped the cyber men and he's gone home to protect mum, I made him" Donna smiled. The Doctor flashed her grin.

"Wilfred's a good man and that means once less person to worry about, meaning I can concentrate more on these guys"

"Social interaction shall cease!" the Dalek furthest on the right ordered.

"How did you survive the time war?" the black one asked.

"By fighting on the front line. I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that. But you lot – ran away!" the Doctor stared at them all, smugly.

"We had to survive" it replied matter-of-factly.

"The last four Daleks in existence – so what's so special about you?" the Doctor remarked.

"They have names" Donna whispered." That's not normal is it?"

"I am dalek Thay" Thay introduced itself.

"Dalek Sec" the black one said.

"Dalek Jast" a bronze one told them.

"Dalek Caan" the last one announced.

"THAT'S it!" the Doctor suddenly said loudly, startling Donna." At last the cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend" the Doctor then explained to Donna that this particular group of Daleks were a secret order who were made to come up with new ways of survival and killing.

"But, what about that thing?" Donna pointed at the Ark.

"I don't know, never seen it before" he shrugged.

"Fat lot of use you are space-boy, it's time lord" she told him, which threw him off slightly. He started questioning the Daleks about it but they just kept barking out orders for him to touch it.

"The Doctor will open the geniuses Ark" growled Sec.

"The Doctor will not" he laughed humourlessly.

"You have no way of resisting" Sec pointed out but then the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and waved it about.

"There's always this" he replied nonchalantly.

"A sonic probe?" asked Sec with wonder.

"Screwdriver" he corrected the alien.

"That's harmless" Sec scoffed.

"Oh yes, harmless is just the word. That's, why I like it, doesn't wound, doesn't kill, doesn't maim. But I'll tell you what it DOES do, it's VERY good at opening the doors" and with that said, the Doctor opened up the doors causing Jack and hundreds of Cyber men to come pouring in and thousands of "deletes" and "exterminates" along with flashes of light, flew about the place like crazy. Donna narrowly missed a ray, to the Doctor's horror but Geoff Noble grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out of the room to safety. The Doctor quickly followed, as did Jake and they shut the door behind them before legging it down the corridor.

"I touched it by mistake!" Jake panted.

"Jake, without us, they would have opened it by force, you did us a favour" . A few moments later, the Doctor poked his head through a door to take another look, he popped on his 3D glasses and continued to wonder what the hell they meant by time lord science. He didn't have time to think about it much before him and the rest of the group, huddled into the elevator and poured out when it reached the Torchwood office. The Doctor ran out of the window and proceeded to gawp with horror at the sight of the ark floating in mid air, millions of Daleks pouring out of it. It was like the time war all over again.

"Oh my god, Doctor!" Donna gasped with shock.

"It's a prison ship" the Doctor said, frozen.

"How many Daleks?" Donna asked him, panic-stricken.

"Millions" he replied, darkly.

"Donna, take one of these, your coming back to my world" Geoff said firmly, tossing a green button towards a stunned Donna.

"You are kidding me, pal? I'm not going anywhere with you especially not to a parallel world, where I'll be trapped with no friends or family and be stuck living in boredom for eternity" she sneered.

"Well I don't think it would be quite THAT bad" Geoff replied.

"Donna, I want you to go with him" the Doctor told her, she stared at him with disbelief.

"Are you serious? My life, my family is in this universe and I promised I would never leave you!" she said passionately. The Doctor smiled weakly.

"Donna, your family would want you safe and this is the only way its going to happen" Geoff said. Donna started to launch into a speech about the reasons of why she WASN'T going to come without noticing the Doctor share a look with Geoff and slip the button around her neck before pressing it down. Donna looked at alarmed for a second before disappearing. The Doctor felt his stomach turn with regret but he knew he had done the right thing for all of them in the end. Donna was not going to take this! Space-boy always had to make the decisions for everyone didn't he? Well now she was taking matters into her own hands and she pressed back down on the button. The Doctor glanced up from his computer to see a very pissed off Donna standing back there.

"Don't you ever do that to me again space-boy" she snarled angrily. He walked towards her and to her annoyance, grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her. This resulted in a slap that sent him stumbling backwards. He got back up and looked at her half relieved she was back half angry.

"You would of been safer with your dad" he hissed.

"Maybe but I promised I'd never leave you, well someone needs to take care of you don't they? And I couldn't bear to imagine my granddad's grief if I was gone forever" Donna said softly.

"Your right, I'm sorry" he sighed before giving Donna orders. A couple of moments later, Donna found herself attaching a big black metal object to one said of the Torchwood office walls and the Doctor on the opposite side. The Doctor had got the levers operational, ready to rid the world of the cybermen and Daleks, by trapping them in the void forever. The Doctor pressed a red button before grabbing hold of his black object. "Hold on tight, Donna!" he yelled, she nodded back in reply and smiled at him. Gripping it as tightly as she could. Suddenly a powerful gust of wind and a bright swirl like hole appeared in the room, the cybermen and the daleks all starting to fall right in with the Doctor and Donna watching with glee. They didn't notice the cult of Skara use a teleport device to disappear right out of the chaos and to safety.

"Offline" the Torchwood computer announced about the lever. Donna glanced at the Doctor, alarmed.

"Turn it on!" the Doctor yelled!" Donna glanced at him and to his horror, let go off the black object and grabbed hold of the lever.

"I've got to get it upright!" she shouted and with all her strength pushed until she got it back up.

"Online and locked" the computer confirmed.

"Donna hold on!" the Doctor screamed desperately. "HOLD ON!" Donna gazed at him, her strength giving out. Her fingers hurt keeping old and the wind was just too strong for her. One hand slipped, she cried out in horror. "Donna!" the Doctor shrieked as Donna finally lost all hold on the lever. She watched the Doctor become smaller and smaller as fell futher and futher away from him. This was it, this was how she was going to die. Suddenly a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist. It was her father. Knowing what was going to happen next, she quickly glanced once last time at the Doctor before disappearing. When it was all over she fell to her knees in tears of shock and anguish. All in one moment she'd lost her best friend, her family, her life and now her entire world had come crashing right down on her. On the other side, the Doctor was numb with shock. What the hell was he going to tell Wilfred? Donna was gone forever. He'd been responsible for her....why didn't he think of sending her home? Because he knew she would refuse that was why but he still should of tried. He walked out of there completely speechless. Tears didn't fall at all but he knew they would in time. He found his Tardis and drove it to the Noble's home. Wilfred opened the door and smiled, delighted to see the Doctor because it meant they had won but frowned when he didn't see Donna.

"Doctor, where's Donna? Why isn't she with you?" he asked, confused."She in the Tardis?"

"She's gone Wilfred" the Doctor gulped. Wilfred's eyes filled with tears.

"Did those things kill her?"

"No. Donna....something happened and she's trapped on a parallel world forever. I'm so sorry" Tears fell from Wilfred's eyes before he punched the Doctor in the face, to his shock.

"You were supposed to keep her safe!" he yelled" What am I going to tell Sylvia?" Wilfred glared at him with contempt."Get out of my sight; I don't want to see you around here ever again". The Doctor picked himself up, stared at Wilfred before walking back to his ship. When he was alone, he broke down and spent most of the day crying over not just Donna but everything he'd ever cared about and ended up losing because of his own stupid fault.

* * *

A few months later, Donna found herself stood on a cold, damp, beach in the middle of Norway. Geoff had driven her. She had been hearing the Doctor's voice in her dreams for months now and somehow he brought her here, to this moment. She never thought much of dreams but this one felt real and if she knew the Doctor as well as she thought she did, she knew space-boy would probably of figured out something. As if he was a mind reader, Donna turned around to see him standing there. Looking ghostly. "Where are you?" Donna asked, frowning.

"Inside the Tardis" he replied softly. Donna gulped back her disappointment. Somewhere deep inside, she had hoped he'd figured out a way back. Obviously not."There's just one tiny gap in the universe left and its about to close .I'm burning up the sun just to say goodbye" Donna smiled at him weakly. "Hold on" the Doctor said and suddenly the imagined became more real."I'm still just an image" he said as Donna tried to touch him and when she asked dif he could come through, he gave an explanation that included the collapse of the universe. Bad idea then, she thought ."So where are we?"

"Norway, about fifty miles out of Bergen, its called Darlig Ulv Stranden"Donna replied, trying to hold it together.

"Dalek?" the Doctor asked, alarmed.

"Dar-LIG. It's Norwegian for bad. This translates as bad wolf bay" she laughed at the irony and so did the Doctor."How long have we got?

" "Two minutes" he said sadly.

"What can I say? I'm going to miss you space-boy. You've been a great friend. How's mum and granddad?" she asked, feeling apprehensive. They would be probably distraught at the least. She missed them all so much, even her mother and space-boy. What she wouldn't give tojust be able to slap him.

"I don't know. When I told Wilfred what happened, he told me never to go round there again" the Doctor said, sounding remorseful.

"Doctor, it wasn't your fault, don't beat yourself up about it like I know you probably have been" she said firmly and gently. The Doctor smiled but before he could say anything he faded away forever. Donna fell to the ground in tears, no one there to hug her or love her or comfort her. She only had herself now.

Donnas' image faded from the Tardis. The Doctor let the tears fall from his eyes and he felt a stab of pain right in the centre of his heart. It hurt nearly as much as letting Rose go. They were the two most important women in his life and they were both gone forever. He was alone, just the way he had intended it to be in the first place. He swallowed back the fresh sob that threaten to escape and threw himself into fixing the Tardis. He was just mending a broken knob when he glanced up and saw a dark haired, man in a tux, with his back to him, stood near the doorway.

"What?!" the man twirled around and his eyebrows shot up in shock.

"Okay where the hell am I?"

"WHAT?!" .


	23. Runaway groom

Considering he'd seen the whole universe more or less, there wasn't really anything left that could really surprise the Doctor.....however, this may be the exception. His eyes widened at the sight of the man in the black tuxedo, who was staring at the Doctor, completely bemused. "What?!" the Doctor exclaimed, shocked, thoughts of Donna temporarily lost.

"Okay, who the hell are you?" the man demanded, clearly bewildered.

"But-" the Doctor was cut off by the man.

"What the heck is this place?!" the Doctor stood frozen for a few more minutes before finally pulling himself together and managing to speak again, not very smoothly though.

"You can't do that....I wasn't...we're in flight!....that is...that is physically impossible! how did-??"

"Tell where I am" the man ordered.

"The Tardis" the Doctor replied flatly.

"The what?!" he asked, confused.

"The Tardis"

"The what?!" the Doctor decided this man was either deaf or not a very good listener.

"The TARDIS!" the Doctor snapped.

"That's not even a word!" he gasped.

"How did you get in here?!" the Doctor, choosing to ignore his comment.

"I have no idea, you tell me" the man's eyes narrowed at him."Did Nathan and the guys pay you to do this? I have to say, very good work" the man started clapping to the Doctor's bemusement."Wait, a minute, NO WAY! am I on punk'd? Ashton, you can come out now!" the man started glancing around as if he was looking for something."Where are the camera's?"

"What cameras? why would there be cameras?"

"Seriously, who paid you to do this!" he demanded.

"Hold on, what are you dressed like that for?" the Doctor asked him, eying up his tux.

"Oh I was walking my dog!" the man said sarcastically and rolling his eyes."What do you think genius? I was getting married. I was just stood there, waiting for my fiance when all of a sudden.....geez, you must have drugged me or something!"

"I didn't do anything!" the Doctor snapped from the console panel, where he was fiddling with a button of some sort.

"My wife - when she is my wife - will have the police on you" he sneered."Bye then" the man then proceeded to head to the doors. The Doctor looked up in alarm.

"No, wait a minute! wait a minute! don't!" but the man had already opened the doors and his jaw dropped slightly as he looked out into outerspace. The Doctor quickly joined him."You're in space, outer space. This is my space ship, it's called the Tardis"

"How am I breathing?" the man asked.

"The Tardis is protecting us" the Doctor replied gently

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. You?"

"Jack Harkness" he sighed.

"Human?" the Doctor asked, eying him up and down. Jack looked at him slightly taken back.

"Duh - is that even an option?"

"Well it is for me"

"You're an alien" Jack said slowly.

"Yeah"

"It's freezing with this doors open" he said and in reply, the Doctor slammed the doors shut before racing up to the console panel.

"But I don't understand - this cannot happen!" the Doctor exclaimed, bewildered."There is no way a human can lock itself onto the Tardis and transport itself must be....." suddenly he grabbed a ophtalmoscope and looked into Jack's eyes before launching into an entire speech of techno babble before Jack punched him."Bloody hell, what was that for?" the Doctor asked, annoyed, rubbing his bleeding nose.

"Get me to the church" he demanded.

"Right, fine, I don't want you here anyway, where is this wedding?"

"Saint Mary's , Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System" Jack ordered before his eyes landed on two shirts. A white blouse and a purple jumper. "I knew it acting all innocent, I'm not the first am I? how many extremely good looking people have you abducted?" he held the tops up at the Doctor and normally he would have laughed at the guys ego and told him he didn't swing that way but he was holding Rose and Donna's tops they had left behind and it brought back bad memories and made him want to cry all over again. He held back the tears and glared darkly at Jack.

"Those belonged to my friends"

"Where are they? popped out for a little space walk?!"

"They're gone" he sighed.

"Gone where?" Jack asked, oblivious to the fact it was a sensitive subject.

"I lost them"

"Well hurry up and lose me" Jack growled and stopped after he saw the hurt flashing in the alien's eyes."Sorry, how did you lose them?"

"Right! Chiswick!" the Doctor paused for a moment, realising Chiswick was where Donna had lived. He blinked before moving around energitically once more. Once he had typed in the co-ordinates, the Tardis rocked about gently and stopped when they had reached the stop. Jack immediately walked out of the Tardis and frowned when he realised they were in an ally of a busy London high street.

"I said saint Mary's, what kind of martian are you?" Jack spat with disbelief.

"Somethings wrong with her" the Doctor murmured. Jack rolled his eyes."It's like she's recalibrating! she's digesting...." the Doctor gazed around his ship, concerned."What have you eaten? What's wrong? - Jack, you've really got to think - is there something that might have caused this?" but Jack wasn't listening. He was stood outside staring at the ouside of his ship, shocked. "Anything you might have done? Any sort of alien contacts? I can't let you go wandering off in case you're dangerous. I mean, have you seen lights in the sky or did you touch something? something - something different? something strange? something made of metal? who you getting married too? Are you sure she's human? She's not a bit overweight with a zip across her forehead is she?" Jack didn't reply, just started to storm in the opposite direction. He wasn't even suppose to be here, he was suppose to be getting married. As good looking as that Doctor man was, Jack just didn't have the time for it. His fiance was going to highly pissed off with him and that was something he really didn't want, especially on his wedding day."Jack!" the Doctor said from behind him but he carried on walking, unfortunately so did the Doctor.

"Leave me alone, I just want to get married" he snapped.

"Come back to the Tardis" the Doctor said gently.

"No, my fiance's waiting for me" Jack looked at his watch and groaned."Ten past three, I've missed it"

"Phone her, tell her where you are" the Doctor suggested.

"Er...I don't have my mobile on me" he said feebly. "Look just leave me alone alright?" Jack started picking up his pace and started to run, the Doctor racing on behind him."Taxi!"  
Jack started waving in front of the black cab but it drove on. Realising Jack had no money, the Doctor went to the nearest cash machine and pointed his sonic screwdriver at it, only to see him get into a taxi driven by a very familiar robot santa. His eyes widened and to make a diversion, he used his screwdriver to cause hundreds of notes to come flying out of the ATM."I promise you - I'll give you the rest when we get there. Oh, I look suprisingly great for a guy who just got abducted" Jack winked at his own reflection in the taxi. "Hurry up!" a few minutes later, it dawned on Jack that they were going entirely the wrong way."Hold on a minute, I said Chiswick, you missed the wrong turning! excuse me, we're going the wrong way" he yelled but the Santa was ignoring him. Ignorant git, Jack thought, annoyed. "What the hell are you doing? I'm late for my own bloody wedding, what part of that don't you understand? turn around, turn the cab around, are you deaf?!" Jack, losing patience, lunged forward and ripped the mask of the santa, revealing a robot underneath. Jack's eyes widened in shock."Oh my god". He immediately turned around and started banging on the windows and trying to open the doors, only to find they were locked and the windows wouldn't break. He did not find death by robot santa very appealing somehow, so he put all his strength into trying to break a window or push the door open or at least grab someone's attention. To his irritation it wasn't working out very well. "HELP, I'M GETTING DRIVEN BY A ROBOT!" suddenly, something in the sky grabbed his attention and his eyebrows shot up when he noticed the Tardis flying towards him, the Doctor stood at the open doors. The ship came flying to him until it was even with the cab.

"Open the door!" the Doctor yelled.

"It's locked!" Jack replied. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and rolled the window down.

"Jack, open the door, you're going to have to jump!"

"I can't jump, what if I fall onto the road? my face will get messed up, I'm too damn handsome for that!" he shouted. The Doctor rolled his eyes and for some reason, this guy suddenly reminded him of someone. He couldn't think who."Besides I'm suppose to be getting married!"

"Listen to me - you are going to have to jump"

"I can't-"

"You have to, whatever that thing wants you for, it's not good!" the Doctor told him, trying to get this man to think a little bit rationally.

"I'm in my tuxedo!" he sighed.

"Yes you look gorgeous" the Doctor snapped.

"You think so? you know so bad yourself!" Jack said flirtily. The Doctor rolled his eyes - this guy was the female version of Captain Rose - that's who he reminded him of.

"Shut up and listen" the Doctor ordered."You need to jump - trust me" He held out his hand to Jack, who was gazing out of the now wide open door, torn between his good looks or his life.

"You're friends....did they trust you?" Jack asked suddenly. The Doctor gulped.

"Yeah, they did. And neither of them are dead, they're both very much alive. Now jump!" he replied and Jack did as he said and landed inside the ship with a thud.

"Ow, my back!" he groaned before the Doctor flew the Tardis to safety on a rooftop somewhere in London. When it had stopped, the two of them walked out and sat down on the edge of the roof. Jack sighed when he saw the time on his watch. There was no way he'd make it now.

"The funny thing is for a spaceship, she doesn't really do much flying .We'd better give her a couple hours. You alright?" the Doctor asked, noticing his glum expression.

"Not really" Jack replied.

"Did we miss it?"

"Yeah"

"You can always book another date" the Doctor suggested.

"I suppose so....I just wish we had a time machine so I could go back and get it right" he murmured.

"Yeah but even if I did, I coudn't go back on someone's personal timeline" Jack shot him a suspicious glance."Apparently" he added quickly.

"My fiance is going to kill me"

"What's her name?" the Doctor asked politely.

"River Song" Jack grinned."What a name, I know

"It's pretty" the Doctor agreed before pulling something out of his jacket pocket."Here you better put this on" he slipped a gold band on Jack's finger. Jack frowned at him.

"Have you got to rub it in?"

"Those creatures can trace you, this bio-damper should keep you hidden" he explained.

"Great. Are you sure you just don't want me for yourself" Jack grinned. Yep, Rose's other half definitely, the Doctor thought, amused.

"I'm pretty sure" the Doctor said firmly.

"So what are those robot santa's for?" he asked the Doctor.

"Ah, you're basic robot scavenger. The father Christmas stuff is just a disguise, they're trying to blend in, I met them last Christmas"

"What happened then?" the Doctor looked at Jack, surprised.

"Great big spaceship hoovering over London? you didn't notice?" Jack shrugged.

"I was completely drunk" he replied. The Doctor decided not to comment on that.

"I spent Christmas day over there" the Doctor sighed, looking out into the direction of the Nobles house."With this family, my friend had this family...well...still gone now" Jack looked at him closely, the Doctor always became sad when he mentioned his friends that he had somehow 'lost'.

"So your friends, who were they?"

"Question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the Tardis? I don't know...what's you're job?" the Doctor asked Jack while pulling the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket.

"I work in PR" Jack told him as the Doctor began scanning him.

"That's weird. You're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important..."

"Charmed, I'm sure" Jack sniffed."If that's how you chat up girls then no wonder you haven't got a girlfriend" the Doctor glared at him.

"I did have one for a while" he muttered to himself but Jack heard anyway although he decided not to comment in case it sent him all sad again.

"Stop bleeping me!" Jack snapped, getting irritated and whacking the sonic screwdriver away from him.

"So what did you do in PR?" the Doctor inquired before Jack launched into an explaination of how he met his fiance there after she started making him cups of coffee and then how he proposed to her and she said yes right away."So what does HC Clements do?"

"Oh, security systems, entry cards, ID codes, that sort of thing" he shrugged."Just a fancy name for keys if you ask me"

"Keys...."the Doctor contemplated.

"Anyway we should get going, I'm in such much trouble as it is, I need you to do the explaining" Jack said, pulling himself up. The Doctor picked himself quickly and the two startedwalking back to the Tardis" Oh, River's probably heartbroken. I feel so bad" but when they got there and walked in, everyone was dancing and laughing and having a good time. Jack's jaw dropped, thunderstruck. Soon everyone stopped when they noticed Jack and all eyes fell on him and the stranger next to him."You had the reception without me?" he said, shocked.

"Sweetheart, what happened to you?" A brown, curly haired woman asked, coming to the front, dressed in a white bridal gown, so it was safe to assume that this was River Song.

"I cannot believe this" Jack hissed. Everyone paused arkwardly.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor" the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Un-bloody-believable" Jack huffed.

"Well it was all paid for so why not?" snapped a voice. Jack glared at his goodlooking rival, Gareth angrily.

"Thank you Gareth" he retorted.

"Well what were we suppose to do? you disappeared, I mean what's the trick I'd love to know-" Jack's mother Cilla came forward and Jack suddenly burst out crying. The Doctor looked at him taken back. What kind of man cries like that? Cilla threw her arms around her son and started rocking him like a baby. Everyone applauded and that's when Jack winked at the Doctor, who suddenly felt like laughing. Soon the reception continued and the Doctor got a drink from the bar. The Doctor borrowed a phone from the man next to him and did a WAP search for HC clements before using his sonic screwdriver to speed up the results. The Doctor closed the phone, not really getting anything from the search results. He give the phone back to the man before glancing at the people dancing merrily out on the dance floor. He watched Jack twirl his fiance around and had a sudden flashback.

_"Feel like dancing?" Rose suddenly asked, getting up from her place in the captain's chair and walking to the Doctor. The Doctor looked at her, suprised._

_"What?" _

_"Are you deaf or something? Rose asked if you feel like dancing" Donna barked from where she was sat reading a magazine. _

_"I'm suppose to be fixing the Tardis" the Doctor mumbled._

_"Take a break" Rose smiled and held out her hand."I haven't danced with you in this body yet"_

_"There's no music" the Doctor pointed out and suddenly the Tardis started playing a slow song._

_"Thank you Tardis" Rose grinned as Rose put her hand in the Doctor's and they moved freely around the console room. She laughed lightly as he twirled her about. Donna watched enviously._

He gulped back tears at the memory of the three of them together and decided to focus more on what was happening with Jack. He approached the camera man who was replaying the scene from the wedding when Jack disappeared. "I taped the whole thing - they've all had a look. They said sell it you've been framed. I said more like the news! here we are..."The Doctor watched as Jack disintergrated into dozens of golden atoms and flew away.

"Can't be! play it again?" the Doctor exclaimed, shocked.

"Clever, mind! good trick I'll give her that. I was clapping" the camera man smirked.

"But that looks like Huon particles!" the Doctor muttered."That's impossible, that's ancient! Huon energy doesn't exist anymore! not for billions of years...so old that it can't be hidden by a bio-damper!" the Doctor ran to the nearest window and looked in horror to see a couple of santa's making their way to the building. He quickly rushed to Jack. "Jack, they've found you!"

"You said I was safe" he frowned.

"The bio-damper doesn't work, we need to get everybody out" the Doctor said urgently and they raced to the back door, only to be confronted by two santas.

"We're trapped" Jack said, horrified.

"Christmas trees...." the Doctor had a flashback to the year before when the Christmas tree came spinning into Donna's bedroom. They re-entered the reception only to find a million barbles floating in the air. Suddenly they started exploding and the room was filled with screams of horror, people were ducking and diving everywhere. The Doctor rushed up to the DJ stand with his sonic screwdriver gripped tightly in his hand."Oi, Santa! word of advice : If you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver don't let him near the sound system" the Doctor pointed the screwdriver at the speakers and a loud, horrible, screeching noise filled the room. Everyone covered their ears and the santas fell to pieces. Jack watched the Doctor leave the room and quickly followed him outside, leaving River Song and his mother staring at him in disbelief."There's someone behind this, directing the robo-force"

"Why the hell are they coming after me?" Jack demanded.

"If we find the controller, we'll find that out, oh!" the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver to the skies."It's up there, something in the sky". Jack followed the Doctor back into the reception hall where they bumped into River Song.

"What's going on?" she asked, alarmed.

"I've lost the signal - Jack, we have got to get to you're office, H C Clements. I think that's where it all started. River - is it River? can you give me a lift?" River blinked at him, a bit taken back but agreed to take him anyway. The three of them arrived at Jack's workplace and walked up to an office floor, where the Doctor proceeded to try to hack into one of the computers. "This might just be a locksmith but HC Clements was brought up twenty three years ago by the Torchwood institute" he quickly darted over to another computer."Torchwood was destroyed but HC Clements stayed in business. I think someone else came in and took over the operation"

"Where do I fit into all of this?" Jack frowned.

"Somehow you've been dosed with huon energy and that's a probelm because huon energy hasn't existed since the dark times. The only place you'd find a huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the Tardis. See? that's what happened. Say....." the Doctor tossed Jack a mug off a desk."That's the Tardis and...." he picked up a pencil."And that's you. The particles inside you activated the two sets of particles magnetised and WHAP!" he placed the pencil into the mug."You were pulled inside the Tardis". Jack stared at the mug.

"This is crazy" he muttered.

"So, River" the Doctor turned from Jack and looked at his fiance."Do you know what HC Clements was working on? Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?"

"How am I suppose to know?" she snapped, almost defensively."I'm in charge of personnel, I wasn't the project manager" the Doctor glanced at the computer which now showed him a plan of the building."Why am I explaining myself? what the hell are we talking about?!"

"They make keys, thats the point. And we're on the third floor" the Doctor replied before racing to the lifts followed by Jack and River."Underneath reception, there's a basement yes? then how come when you look on the lift theres a button marked 'lower basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans, so what's down there then?" the lift pinged open and the Doctor immediately stepped in. River glared at him in disbelief.

"You're telling me that there is a secret floor in this building?"

"No I'm showing you this building has a secret floor" the Doctor said lightly.

"Doesn't it need a key?" Jack asked.

"I don't" the Doctor said smugly and used his screwdriver to sonic the lock."Right then, thanks you two, I can handle this - see you later"

"Oh no you don't" Jack growled. "I'm not letting you out of my sight" he stepped into the lift beside the Doctor.

"I suppose I should come too" River sighed and followed him in. The doors shut and the three stood in silence as it moved downwards. When they got out of the lift, the three of them stepped onto three electric scooters. As they rode down the underground tunnel, Jack suddenly started laughing. Soon the Doctor was grinning but River Song looked as serious as ever. A few minutes later, they found themselves walking into some kind of laboratory.

"Oh, look at this! stunning! particule extrusion" the Doctor exclaimed, animatedly at a big test tube full of blue bubbles.

"What does it do?" Jack asked.

"Particle extrusion. Hold on...." the Doctor leapt to another test tube and tapped it."Brilliant. They've been manufacturing huon particles. In case my people got rid of huons, they unravelled the atomic structure...."

"Your people? what company do you represent?" River Song demanded.

"Oh I'm a freelancer but this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result - Huon particles in liquid form" he replied picking up a small test tube full of huon particles.

"That's whats inside me" Jack realised, grimly. The Doct turned a knob at the top of the test tube - the huons started glowing gold, as did Jack."Oh my god!" The Doctor looked at him excitedly, alive for the first time in months since he'd lost Donna. He launched in a techno speech again, sounding quite joyful, which was inapprioriate and tactless given the circumstances and sure enough, two seconds later, Jack's fist meet the Doctor's face.

"OW, what was that for?!" he asked, rubbing his cheek.

"Are you enjoying this?" he snapped. The Doctor backed off, ashamed of himself."Doctor, if your lot got rid of huon particles. Why are they doing this? are they dangerous?"

"No" he lied.

"Tell me the truth, I can take it" he said firmly.

"Yes, they're....deadly" he said slowly."But I promise you Jack, I'll sort it out. Whatever has been done to you, I will reverse it, I refuse to lose someone else" before Jack could speak, a voice boomed into the room.

"Oh he is long since lost" a fierce, female voice announced. Everyone gazed up but there was no sign of anyone else in there, then the walls collasped and revealed a secret chamber with a big round hole in the floor. The Doctor and Jack walked up to it."I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe, until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!" the Doctor and Jack peered into the hole but all they could see was darkness.

"Someones been digging....oh very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?" the Doctor wondered.

"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!" the woman cried.

"Really, seriously, what for?" the Doctor frowned.

"Dinosaurs?" Jack suggested.

"What?!"

"Just a suggestion. Trying to help" Jack said defensively.

"That's not helping!" the Doctor snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Such a sweet couple" the voice commented. The Doctor's eyes widened in disgust. Jack smirked.

"Ahh, no, we are not a couple, not in the least" the Doctor protested before remembering what he wanted to say."Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me are you?"

"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas night"

"Show yourself, I'm tired of talking through the intercom" the Doctor barked.

"Who are you with such command?"

"I'm the Doctor"

"Prepare your best medicine Doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart" she hissed and a flash of light appeared in the chamber and revealed a tall, red spider although the top half of it looked more humanoid.

"That's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!" the Doctor gasped, shocked.

"Empress of the Racnoss" she corrected.

"If you're the Empress of the Racnoss, where's the rest? or are you the last?" the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Such a sharp mind" hissed before the Doctor explained to Jack who the Racnoss are exactly before the Doctor pointed out to Jack, his boss, had been eaten by the Racnoss. Jack looked up and noticed his bosses shoes tangled up in a web.

"Oh my god" he exclaimed, horrified.

"My Christmas dinner" the Empress purred. While the Doctor got into a conversation with the spider about how she shouldn't exist, Jack noticed River Song sneaking up to the Empress with an axe in one hand. River gestured to him to be quiet and he smiled happily before asking the Empress questions in a bid to help distract her. From the corner of his eye, Jack watched as River got ready to swing the axe at the monster but to his bewilderment, she stopped and started laughing.

"That was a good one, your face!" River giggled. Jack froze in disbelief.

"River is funny" the Empress smirked.

"What?!"

"I'm sorry" the Doctor whispered to Jack.

"River, what are you doing?!" he hissed.

"Bloody hell, he's thick. Months I had to put up with him. A man who flirts with anything that's bloody well there!" River snarled.

"How did you meet her?" the Doctor asked him. Realisation hit Jack fast and hard. He felt angry and devastated all at once.

"In my office....she made me coffee..." he trailed off for a moment."The bitch was poisoning me!"

"It was all there in the job title , the head of human resources" the Doctor said coldly.

"This time it's personnel" River replied, smugly.

"We were engaged, how could you do this?" Jack demanded. River looked a him with contempt.

"Well I couldn't risk you running off. I had to sit around for months and watch you flirt embarssingly with everything in a skirt....or pants too for that matter! bloody hell, you'd do a lamp post if it meant you got some!" River sneered.

"That's not true. I only fool around with humans but not when I'm engaged" Jack snapped. The Doctor decided to intervene before he heard anymore of this man's 'love' life.

"So what did this Empress offer you?"

"The Empress offered to help me see more of the universe. To see what's out there, the size of it all. Surely, you can understand that Doctor?" she replied.

"The point is...what's going to help you buried four thousand feet below ground? that's just molten core of the Earth isn't it?"

"I think he wants us to talk" River said smugly to the Empress.

"I think so too"

"Well, all we need is Jack!" River hissed.

"Kill this chattering little Doctor-man"

"Don't you touch him" Jack snarled, stepping in front of the Doctor.

"It's alright" the Doctor assured him.

"At arms" the Empress ordered and the robotic santa's pulled out their guns and pointed them at them.

"Ah now except"

"Take aim!"

"Well I just want to point out the obvious-"

"They won't hit the groom. They're such very good shots" the Empress spat.

"Just-just-just hold on, just a tick, just a tiny little tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Jack and drew him inside my spaceship. Now reverse it ....the spaceship comes to him" the Doctor said quickly before tweaking the tube of huon particles and the Tardis suddenly marterialised around them just as the santas started to shoot."Off we go!" the Doctor said as he pulled down the lever and pressed some buttons. The Tardis moved and Jack sat down on the captain's chair, deflated. He always knew he had a good reason for not wanting to get married but he'd felt a special connection with River Song and now look what had happened. What a complete sodding mess, he thought bitterly."Oh you know what I said about time machines?" the Doctor's voice penetrated his thoughts."Well I lied and we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something is buried at the planet's core then it must have been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant! Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Jack - we're going futher back then I've ever gone before" Jack wasn't really listening though. He just kept thinking up new ways to throttle that bitch of an ex-fiance of his. Standing near the doors, the Doctor spoke again."We've arrived, want to see?". Wanting to take his mind off River Song, he moved next to the Doctor as the open doors and looked out on the universe. "No humans ever seen this, you'll be the first"

"Fantastic" he said unenthusiastic.

"Jack Harkness, welcome to the centre of the Earth" the Doctor said cheerfully and the two men watched the Earth come into existence. The Doctor's eyes widened when he realised that that the Racnoss star was buried at the centre of Earth. The Doctor shut the doors and ran back in when the Tardis suddenly started moving again. "They're pulling us back!"

"Well do something, I don't want to be Spider food" Jack snapped. The Doctor pulled down on the lever and raced around the console, manically pressing buttons. Before pulling out the extrapolator from underneath the console.

"The extrapolator! can't stop us but it should give us a good bump!" he exclaimed as the Tardis started to appear back in the chamber."Now!" he yelled and whacked the extrapolator hard and the ship disappeared once again and reappeared in the tunnel. The men emerged out of the ship and ran down the tunnel.

"What do we do?" Jack demanded as the Doctor put a stethoscope to a door.

"I don't know, I make it up as I go along but trust me, I've got a history" the Doctor said confidently.

"You know Doc, I'm still full of particles" Jack pointed out.

"Don't call me Doc, it's reminds me of bugs bunny. And yes I'm aware. There's a Racnoss ship at the centre of the Earth but my people unravelled their power source and the huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck....." while the Doctor rambled on, he didn't notice two santas grabbed hold of Jack, who as strong as he was, was unable to fight himself free. The Doctor stopped talking when he realised he was getting no reaction. "Damn it!" he groaned and opened the door in front of him, only to be faced with an armed robot.

"I hate you" Jack spat as he lay tangled up in a spiders web alongside River Song.

"I think we've got a bit beyond that now sweetheart" she hissed back.

"My golden couple - together at last - your awful wedded life. Tell me ; do you want to be released?" the Empress croaked.

"Yes!" Jack and River Song yelled at the same time.

"You're suppose to say I do"

"No chance" River snapped.

"Say it!" the Empress roared.

"I do" River said grudgingly.

"I do" Jack muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I don't!" the Empress cackled."Activate the particles, purge every last one!" Jack and River began to glow." And release" the particles extracted themselves from Jack and River before lunging down the hole."The secret heart unlocks and they will awaken from their sleep of ages. My children, the long lost Racnoss, will be born to feast on flesh!" Jack cringed at the thought of millions of those spiders munching away on his body. "The web star shall come to me. My babies will be hungry, they need substenance. Perish the web"

"Use him, not me!" River shrieked."I don't deserve this, I was helping you!" Jack stared at her with disgust and wondered how he'd ever fallen in love with her.

"Oh my lovely little River Song, you are quite impolite to your boyfriend - the Empress does not approve" the Empress hissed coldly before the web was released and River fell down into the hole. Jack watched with horror and his face paled of colour."Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat!"

"That's just gross" Jack muttered.

"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them! so you might as well unmask my clever little Doctor-man" the Empress spat and Jack grinned with relief as the Doctor ripped off his robotic Santa disguise.

"Oh well, nice try, I've got you Jack!" the Doctor said, aiming his sonic screwdriver at the web, it released but instead of falling into the pit, Jack kept hold of the web and swung to safety. However, the Doctor missed and Jack went flying into the wall. "Oh, sorry!"

"Yeah, great catch" Jack muttered, glaring up at him. The Doctor glanced at Jack briefly and realised he had done that alot in the past. First with Donna, now with Jack. He really needed to pratise more. He turned his attention back to the matter at hand for now though.

"The Doctor-man amuses me" the Empress smirked.

"Empress of the Racnoss - I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to co-exist. Take that offer and end this now" the Doctor said warningly. The Empress laughed coldly.

"These men are funny but I'm afraid I will have to decline" she croaked.

"What happens next is you're own doing" the Doctor said tonelessly.

"I'll show you what happens next - arms!" the robot santas lifted thier guns up and pointed them at the Doctor."Take aim and-"

"Relax" the Doctor finished and the robots went limp.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Jack asked.

"Guess what I have Jack? pockets" he said and pulled out a remote.

"Robo-forms are not necessary, my children will feast on Martian flesh" the Empress spat.

"Oh but I'm not from Mars" the Doctor replied calmly.

"Then where?" she asked, clearly bewildered.

"My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But it's name lives on. Gallifrey" the Empress gasped with fury.

"They murdered the Racnoss!" she screamed.

"I warned you. You did this" he produced a handful of barbles from his pockets.

" NO, NO, DON'T, NO!" The Empress shrieked with panick. The Doctor threw the barbles into the air and they floated all over the chamber, the laboratory and the underground tunnel. All at once they exploded causing everywhere to start flooding with water. Millions of droplets of water fell down as if it was raining inside and another barble exploded after another causing a raging fire. Jack couldn't help but compare it to hell, especially with that monster stood there , screaming terribly in front of them."My children!" she wailed, grief-stricken. Jack's eyes widened with horror at the sight. The Doctor watched her darkly, thinking of everything and everyone he'd ever lost. If he stayed here now, he could die, the pain would just fade away forever. It would be so easy. Suddenly a voice pulled him back to reality.

"Doctor, you can stop now!" Jack yelled, alarmed at the darkness reflected from the Doctor's expression.

"Come on, time I got you out" the Doctor quirped, now he had been pulled out of his own depression. Jack climbed up the ladders and the two of them climbed up onto the top of the building, safe from drowning to death. Jack smiled with relief.

"Doc, theres one small probelm" Jack said, glancing around.

"What's that?"

"We've drained the thames" he pointed out and the Doctor looked behind him, sure enough, the London river was completely drained dry.A few moments later, they were back in the Tardis and walked out of the ship again when it appeared on Jack's street, where he lived alone. Jack had told the Doctor his mother lived with her boyfriend and they rarely saw each other. Today was the first time in months.

"There we go, told you she'd be alright, she can survive anything" the Doctor said, referring to the Tardis before quickly scanning him."No more particles, you're fine, no damage done" Jack laughed softly at that.

"Yeah except I missed my wedding, lost my job and my fiance all in the same day"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't save her"

"She deserved it" he snapped, unfeelingly but his expression softened."No she didn't"

"So, what will you do with yourself now?" the Doctor asked. Jack shrugged.

"Maybe let go of my flat and travel the world or something" he grinned at him."Never going to try and get married ever again, thats for certain. I'm a free man now"

"You could always..." the Doctor trailed off.

"What?"

"Come with me?" he suggested. Jack smiled at him.

"I would but do you really want me?"

"Yeah" the Doctor smirked.

"Sure, I'll come. I think after what I just saw, you need somebody to pull you back" Jack said seriously."I'd hate to think that if I left you, you would to go get yourself killed for no reason"

"Gee thanks, I'm touched" the Doctor said sarcastically.

"Just tell me something, you're friends, who were they?" Jack asked, walking back inside the Tardis.

"Their names were Donna and Rose" he said slowly and shut the door behind him.

"They sound hot" Jack remarked, recieving a strange look from the Doctor, who slowly started to laugh.

"You should be glad Donna's not here, she would have slapped you for that"

"Okay she sounds REALLY hot" he smirked."I have a thing for fiesty women". The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"You and Rose would have really hit it off" he muttered and sank down into the captain's chair. He didn't feel as depressed thinking of them as he had before but that was because now he had Jack to keep him company and stop him for committing suicide. He wondered what Donna would have said if she could have seen him earlier. Probably not much, he mused. She would most likely have just slapped him for being an idoit.

* * *

**A/N : Thank you for all the reviews, as always, they're really appreciated. Yeah I decided to keep Jack in since I think it will liven season 3 up a bit and yes I know I made up the bit about Jack's mother and all that but 1) I haven't watched Torchwood, so I don't want to attempt to write about what I'm not sure of 2) it's an AU fic so I don't think it matters much 3) sorry if anybody has a probelm with it. And I also apologise for the slow update on this story but I took a break to finish off my other fanfics so now I can focus on this one!. Also, one last thing, some of you want me to write an AU of Torchwood with Rose but since I haven't seen Torchwood, I have a few alternatives in mind. I'm posting a poll up on my profile, so please vote and pick one of the alternatives I should do :).**


	24. Judoon platoon upon the moon

**A/N : Wow, I'm loving that people are liking my story so much so far, it means I alot especially since I work so hard on it. I would have got this chapter up earlier but I was out all day in Manchester yesterday and by the time I got home, I was exhausted. Thank you to everyone who has voted on the poll so far, you have one more day to vote before it's closed and I start actually writing the alternative you've chosen. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

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Walking down a busy London street, Astrid listened to her mother bitch about her father before she hung up and then listened to her father bitch about her mother. Astrid rolled her eyes, they behaved like a couple of five year olds. Her dad hung up quickly to take his twenty year old, blonde, spoilt girlfriend out onto a shopping spree. Oh how she couldn't wait for everybody to get together at her brother's birthday party tonight. She was putting her mobile into her handbag when all of a sudden two men walked right in front of her, blocking her way."Like so..." the Doctor took off his tie.

"Believe us now?" the dark haired man added, grinning at her. Astrid raised an eyebrow. Where these guys on something? before she could reply to them, the two guys walked off. She shook her head, puzzled before making her way to the Royal Hope Hospital, where she worked as a medical student. As she walked through the doors, she was pushed to the side by a person dressed in leather and a black helmet on their head. She narrowed her eyes but didn't think anything of it as she walked to the locker rooms and changed into her uniform. Closing the locker, she was struck with a kind of electrical shock. She frowned.

"That's odd" she murmured. She got into the lift and walked onto the third floor ward where she joined the other medical students around a bed that contained a middle aged woman. She smiled. That woman had been in and out several times in the last week or so.

"I was alright til this morning and then I don't know, I woke up and felt all dizzy again. It was worst then when I came in" she explained. , her boss, didn't look concerned at all.

"Pulse is slightly theady. Well let's see what Britain's finest may ideas Moregenstern?" he asked, turning to a young man in his mid twenties.

"Dizziness can be a sign of early onset diabetes" he suggested.

"Hardly early onset, if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan. Any more ideas? Swales?" turned to another medical student.

"Um could recommend a CT scan" Swales said sounding uncertain.

"And spend all our money? Peth?" Astrid's eyes widened slightly in surprise but she answered quickly.

"We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease?"

"Or we could just ask the patient" said, clearly not impressed with his students."What did you have for dinner last night?" Miss Finnegan told him salad and salad the night before and all the nights before that. It became painfully obvious why this old lady was having dizzy spells.

* * *

"Why have I got to be here?" Jack moaned, sat up in a hospital bed, the Doctor sat on a chair next to him.

"Because there's a chance they might take my blood, find out I'm not from Earth and proceed to dissect me" he replied simply. Jack pouted like a mood five year old.

"I hate the food here"

"Jack, it's not a five star restaurant and besides you'll be out just as soon as we find out what's going on here" the Doctor said but Jack didn't brighten up. However, he did when a very attractive nurse came to check on him. He soon went back to sulking mood when she left.

"I'm so bored!"

"Jack, you'll be out soon, don't wor-" the Doctor was cut off when a couple of medical students, led by a middle age man, who Jack recognised as , surrounded Jack's bed.

"Now , a very good morning to you, how are you today?" the man asked him politely.

"Oh I'm great" Jack grinned. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Jack Harkness, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Peth, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me" Jack's day suddenly got a whole lot better when a pretty, petite, blonde came forwards. For some reason, her eyes flashed with recognition when she looked at him.

"That wasn't very clever running around outside, was it?" the woman asked as she pulled out a stethoscope.

"Sorry?" Jack looked at her confused.

" On Chancery Street this morning. You and you're friend came up to me. He took his tie off and you said something to me" the Doctor looked at her bemused.

"Really? what did we do that for?" Jack asked, exchanging a look with the Doctor.

"I don't know, you just did"

"Not us, I was here in bed, the Doctor was with me. Ask the nurses" Jack shrugged.

"Well that was weird. Have you two good brothers or something? they looked like both of you" she frowned.

"No" Jack said.

"Me neither...not anymore" the Doctor muttered. The medical student placed the stethoscope on Jack's chest but she couldn't find anything wrong with him.

"Could you suggest what it could be?" Stroker asked. Astrid looked at him blankly.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him sir" she explained. Stroker frowned and grabbed his chart but recieved an electric shock while doing so."That happened to me this morning"

"I had the same thing on the door handle" a young medical student added.

"And me, on the lift" piped up another.

"That is only to be expected" said simply." There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightening is a form of static electricity, first proven by - anyone?"

"Benjamin Franklin" the Doctor said immediately.

"Correct!" replied.

"My mate Ben, that was a day and a half. I got ropes burns off that kite and then I got soaked..." Jack looked at his friend, amused, as the Doctor recieved strange stares of the medical students and the consultant.

"Quite..." Stoker looked at the man, concerned, obviously, for his mental health.

"And then I got eletrocuted!" the Doctor concluded.

"Moving on. I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric" muttered to one of the medical students as they walked off.

"They're going to lock you up and stick you in the loony bin, you know that don't you?" Jack smirked. The Doctor shrugged.

"That's how narrow minded you humans are...don't believe time travel could even be a possiblity" Jack laughed in reply before suddenly, the entie building started to shake. Jack fell out of his bed and on top of the Doctor, who was clinging as tightly as he could to the side of the bed. The shaking stopped and Jack picked himself up.

"What the hell was that?" he asked stunned.

"I don't know" the Doctor frowned. Suddenly the room was filled with screams and shrieks of alarms and gasps of shock. Jack was about to walk out from behind the curtain, before the Doctor grabbed him and kept him still. They watched as the blonde medical student from earlier walked past. The Doctor was obviously planning on listening in on her. Jack had no idea why but didn't ask.

"It's real. It's really real!" they heard her say in awe."Hold on!"

"Don't! we'll lose all our air!" her friend cried. Jack took the oppotunity to change into something other than his rubbish green pyjamas.

"They're not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away but it didn't. How come?"

"Very good point!" the Doctor bellowed, opening the curtains. Jack was glad he was now fully dressed in his jeans and t-shirt otherwise the Doctor would have ripped it open and showed off his very naked body to the pretty student. Not that Jack would have minded and he knew for sure, no one else would have minded either. He grinned at that thought."Brilliant in fact!. What was you're name?"

"Astrid" the blonde smiled.

"And it was Peth wasn't it?" Jack asked. She blushed and nodded.

"Well then, Astrid Peth, the question is, how are we still breathing?" the Doctor asked, contemplating.

"We can't be!" sobbed the other medical student.

"Well obviously are, so shut up and don't waste our time!" Jack snapped. He had no patience for these kinds of people.

"Astrid, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor or a veranda or...?" the Doctor looked at Astrid questioningly.

"By the patients lounge" she replied before following him and Jack outside. The three stood there and gazed out in wonder and Astrid truly couldn't believe she was stood on the moon. It was incredible, the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. It was like all her dreams had come true, as a little girl she'd always been fasanated with the universe. Science was her best subject."Wow, it's amazing" she gasped.

"So Doc, we have air, how does that work?" Jack piped up.

"Just be glad it does" he replied.

"I was suppose to be going to a party tonight" Astrid sighed.

"You okay" Jack asked her. She smiled at him weakly.

"Yeah"

"Sure?"

"Yeah"

"Want to go back in?" the Doctor looked at her concerned.

"No way. We could die any minute but it's stunning" she breathed."How many people go to the moon? but here we are!"

"So what do you think did this?" the Doctor asked her, amused.

"Extraterristrial, it has to be. I always wanted to believe there's life out there and the last few years have proven me right. Tha spaceship crashing into big ben, last Christmas's invasion, those cybermen things. I had a cousin that worked at Canary Wharf, she never came home" Astrid told them, reminiscently and sounding sad thinking of her cousin.

"I'm sorry. I was there in the battle" the Doctor sighed. Jack could have sworn he saw a flicker of grief but decided not to comment on it. "Well anyway, what's keeping in the air in?" Jack picked up a pebble and threw it. It bounced off some kind of invisable wall.

"It's some kind of forcefeild" Jack noted.

"If that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" Astrid asked, alarmed.

"How many people in this hospital?" the Doctor looked at Astrid seriously.

"I don't know, a thousand?" she estimated.

"A thousand people!" Jack roared in outrage.

"One thousand people. Suffocating" the Doctor hissed angrily.

"But who would do this?" Astrid said, shocked.

"Ask them yourself" the Doctor pointed and they all turned to see a ship arriving on the moon. Out of the ship marched hundreds of masked aliens in armor.

"Who are they, Doc?" Jack turned to the Doctor for an answer.

"Judoon" he spat before the three of them ran back inside. They watched as the Judoon came marching in and one brave medical student tried to reason with them. The Judoon weren't even listening, instead they scanned him and other people. They killed anyone who didn't do as they said. The Doctor, Jack and Astrid remained hidden behind a plant on the upper level."Ooh! look down there a little shop!"

"Doctor now is not the time!" Jack pointed out.

"What the heck are Judoon?" Astrid piped up.

"Galectic police. Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs" the Doctor replied.

"And they brought us to the moon, why?"

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth and they isolated us. That rain? Lightening? that was them, using a H2O scoop" he explained.

"Galetic law?!" Astrid exclaimed. "Are we tresspassing on the moon or something?"

"I like that" Jack grinned."Tell me something Miss Peth, are you single?" Astrid blushed and smiled shyly.

"Yes, why?"

"Jack, now is not the time to flirt" the Doctor hissed. Jack had the grace to look embarassed."They're making a catalogue, it means they're after something non human which is very bad news for me"

"Why?" Astrid asked him. He looked at her."Seriously?" he raised an eyebrow before the three of them left the upper level and entered a corridor and walked into an office, where the Doctor started using his sonic screwdriver on a computer. "What is that?"

"It's a sonic screwdriver" Jack said on behalf of the Doctor.

"Wow, I always wanted to see alien technology" she exclaimed excitedly.

"I've got an even better piece of technology that I bet you'd love to see when we're alone" Jack grinned, and winked, shameless of his blatant flirting. Astrid went red and looked away, the Doctor rolled his eyes in dismay and prayed for it to stop. He even began to ask himself if he had made a huge mistake in asking Jack to come? .No, he knew immediately why he'd wanted Jack to come. He reminded him of Rose. He knew Jack was a flirt but he also knew Jack was reliable and trustworthy. The flirting was just something he would have to put up with...maybe he could go back in time and set Donna on him or something. No stratch that, Jack would love that actually, the Doctor smirked to himself.

"Oh this computer! the Judoon must have locked it platoon upon the moon" the Doctor mumured. Jack raised his eyebrow.

"What are they looking for?"Astrid asked.

"Something that looks human but isn't"

"Like you"

"Like me but not me" the Doctor frowned."If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution"

"Surely not all of us!" Astrid gasped

"Yes" he said grimly."If I can find this thing first... Oh! Just that they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever!"

"So what are we looking for?" Jack frowned.

"I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a backup"

"Just keep working, I'll ask , he might knw" Astrid said before walking out the office.

"She's hot" Jack remarked, recieving another reproachful glare off the Doctor. Astrid walked down the corridor until she got to office. She knocked before walking but her eyes widened with horror and her face paled as she caught sight of Miss Finnegan sucking 's blood with a straw on the floor. The woman looked up and hissed when she noticed Astrid.

"Kill her" she snarled and one of the two things in leather went for her. Astrid quickly ran out of the office before running into Jack and the Doctor.

"Woah, slow down!" Jack smiled.

"I found her" she panted.

"What?!" the Doctor said, alarmed before catching sight of the leather thing behind them."Run!" the three of them ran as fast as they could down the corridor. With the things hot on their heels, they ran into a radiology room. The Doctor quickly slammed and locked the door on the slab. "Jack, Astrid, get behind there!" the two did as they were told. "When I say 'now' press the button"

"I don't know which one!" Astrid said panicking.

"Find out!" the Doctor yelled. Suddenly the door flung open and the leather bound creatures stormed in. "Now!" the Doctor, using his sonic screwdriver, zapped the thing dead.

"What did you do?" Astrid exclaimed, shocked. The Doctor replied, telling her how he increased the radiation, before shaking his body about trying to expell the radiation he absorbed. It resulted in him losing both of his shoes.

"Barefoot on the moon" he grinned.

"What as that thing?" Astrid asked, glancing at the leather creature with disdain.

"A slab, basic slave drones, solid leather all the way through" he replied plainly before gasping when he noticed his screwdriver was dead. "My screwdriver!" he whinged.

"Miss Finnegan is the alien, she was drinking 's blood!" Astrid yelled, exasperated with the Doctor's bad attention spam.

"Funny time to take a snack - you'd think she'd be hiding. Unless...no!....yes! shape-changer! internal shape-changer!. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it!" the Doctor proclaimed. "If she can assimilate 's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the judoon, come on!" the Doctor ran out of the office followed by Jack and a bewildered three ran out into a corridor and hid behind a water cooler while a slab passed them."That's the thing about slabs, they always travel in pairs"

"So you and Jack?" Astrid inquired. The Doctor looked at Jack and shook his head vigerously.

"Just don't go there! he has enough ideas as it is"

"Hey, that's not true!" Jack said defensively.

"Jack, if your mind was a movie it would be x-rated" the Doctor snapped.

"Well nobody has to worry about you getting around. You break up with one girlfriend and all of a sudden your doom and gloom!" Jack sneered nastily, stung by the Doctor's words and realised too late that he'd really gone and stuck his foot in it. The Doctor might have been hard on him but he hadn't deserved Doctor narrowed his eyes at him.

"At least I don't have to worry about my girlfriend trying to feed me to a giant spider"

"You're right" Jack agreed, knowing he'd asked for it."I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have said that"

"What happened to your girlfriend?" Astrid asked, curiously.

"Humans. We're stuck on the moon, running out of air but you still find time to ask personal questions" he said annoyed and the three of them got out from behind the water cooler, only to walk right into the Judoon.

"Non-human" the alien announced. The Doctor grabbed Astrid's hand and pulled her down the corridor, Jack ran behind them, slightly offended at getting left behind. They ran up onto the floor below, quickly.

"They've done this floor, the Judoon are logical and a bit thick, they won't check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky" the Doctor said, panting for breath. Astrid then proceeded to take the Doctor and Jack into 's office, where they found him lying dead on the floor. Astrid closed his eyes and they walked back out. "Think. think, think. If I was a plasmavore, surrounded by police...." the Doctor glanced at a MRI sign and it hit him."Aah, she's as clever as me. Almost"

"Find non-human, exectute" a Judoon croaked from around the corner. The Doctor looked at Jack and raised his eyes to the heavens.

"I am so going to regret this but Jack I need you to hold them up!" Jack looked at him bemused.

"How do I do that?"

"Jack, this means nothing so don't even think of making a big deal out of this!" the Doctor warned before he grabbed Jack's shirt, pulled him close and kissed him hard on the lips for a whole ten seconds. When it was done, Jack was smirking, the Doctor was running as fast as he could away from Jack and flushing, while Astrid looked completely taken back by everything that was happening.

"That was nothing?!" he exclaimed with disbelief. That girlfriend of his, had been a bloody lucky lady, he thought enviously. Meanwhile the Doctor went to the MRI room and found Miss Finnegan working with the controls on the machine.

"Have you seen - there are these things - those great big space rhino things - I mean rhino's from space and we're on the moon! Great big space rhinos with guns on the moon and I only came in for my bunions, look-" the Doctor pointed to his feet."They're all right now, perfectly good treatment, I said to my wife I'd recommend this place to anyone but then we end up on the moon and did I mention rhino's!". The old woman regarded him coldly.

"Hold him!" she ordered her slab while out in the corridor, Jack was being scanned by a Judoon.

"Human with non-human element confirmed. Authorize full scan. What are you? What are you?" it demanded but Jack didn't answer. A few minutes later, Finnegan was done with the machine .

"That thing, that big machine thing, is it suppose to be making that much noise?!" the Doctor asked, eyes wide.

"You wouldn't understand" she hissed.

"Isn't that a magnetic resonance imaging thing? Like a ginormous sort of a magnet? I did magnets at GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same" the Doctor said and the woman began explaining her plan to him. She wanted to kill half of the people in the hospital, so she could get rid of the Judoon and steal their ships. She would allow the other half to live. Then she pulled out a straw and glared at him.

"I must assimilate again" she said and moved towards him. The Doctor began to babble about his 'wife' but she wasn't intereasted.

"What are you doing?" he asked as the slab held him down and she pressed the straw down on his neck.

"I'm afraid this is going to hurt but if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember" she snarled. Suddenly the Judoon entered the room, followed by Jack and Astrid. Astrid looked at the Doctor alarmed. "The poor man died of fright!" Astrid glared at her, nobody could possibly DIE of fright.

"Confirmation : deceased" the Judoon proclaimed.

"No it can't be!" Jack yelled."It was her! she killed him" Miss Finnegan continued to feign innocence.

"The Judoon have no authority over human crime" it replied coldly.

"She's not human!" Astrid cried.

"I've been catalogued" she hissed, smugly.

"Wait a minute, you drank the Doctor's blood!" Jack said with realisation and grabbed the scanner off the Judoon.

"Okay, scan all you like" she said smugly. Jack did and the Judoon discovered she was infact an alien. The executed her on the spot but left Jack and Astrid to deal with the dodgy machine and the Doctor. The both found it increasingly difficult to breathe. Running out of air, Astrid knelt down and resucitated the Doctor before collasping, unconcious now she had ran out of oxygen.

"The scanner, she did something" Jack gasped before slipping away. The Doctor staggered to the MRI machine, struggling and unplugged it. He looked out of the window and grinned when he saw that it was raining.

* * *

After the long day she had, had, she would of thought she would have wanted to have skipped the party and gone to bed but she in fact felt the opposite. Astrid changed into a glittery blue halterneck, black jeans and high heels before doing her make up and hair. She shoved on a black cardigan before making her way to the club, where her brother's party was being held. It went as badly as expected, her mother slapping her dad's girlfriend for calling Astrid crazy for the whole hospital on the moon thing. She quickly followed her mother out, who was marching after her dad, yelling all kinds of abuse while he chased after his girlfriend. She rolled her eyes and watched them take the chao's all the way down the 's when Astrid turned around and saw them ; the Doctor and Jack, standing next to a wall. The smiled at her and walked away, she quickly followed them and found them stood in front of a blue box. "I went to the moon today" she grinned.

"A bit more peaceful then down here" the Doctor stated.

"So who are you two then? you never really said" Astrid said, staring at them.

"Well he's the Doctor, he's a timelord and whatever you do, don't ask him about his love life!" Jack didn't notice the glare the Doctor was shooting at him.

"A timelord? that's kind of pompous!" Astrid exclaimed.

"Well I thought since you saved my life and Jack fancies you, you might fancy a trip" the Doctor suggested.

"What, into space?" she asked.

"No to Wales, of course into Space" Jack replied.

"I can't. I have exams" Astrid said, regretfully.

"It travels in time too you know" Jack added and the Doctor didn't think Jack usually had to try this hard to get a girl into bed.

"Yeah right" she scoffed.

"We'll prove it" the Doctor said and the two men disappeared in the ship. The ship reappeared a minute later and the Doctor came out holding his tie. Astrid's eyes widened in amazement.

"You really did travel in time!"

"Yep" The Doctor grinned.

"That's you're spaceship?"Astrid gestured to the blue box.

"Yes, it's called the Tardis. Time and relative dimension in space" he replied.

"You're spaceships made of wood, there's not much room, we'll be rather intimate" Astrid said shyly.

"I don't mind that" Jack winked. Astrid blushed.

"Ignore him, take a look" the Doctor said. Astrid followed them in and gaped at the size of the inside.

"It's bigger on the inside!" she gasped and the Doctor mimicked her.

"Is it? I never noticed" Jack laughed at the Doctor's sacrism and the Doctor realised just how much like Donna he'd suddenly become."So you want to come?" he asked, Astrid nodded. The Doctor stood near the console panel before speaking again."One trip only"

"That's fine with me, I have exams, like I said" she smiled. Jack wrapped an arm around her and the three took off through time and space.

* * *

**A/N : I'm not starting up a Jack/Astrid ship before anyone asks okay?.**


	25. Witches & Shakespear

**A/N : Thanks for the reviews, sorry for slow update but I've just started another fanfic and I needed a breather from this one, it's exhausting writing four thousand words everyday you know!. Also I've been lacking time recently doing other things. Well, anyway, please keep on reviewing :).**

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Sat in the Tardis, Astrid glanced about with a mixture of excitement and wonder. The ship was magical, it could just appear and disappear right on the spot and travel wherever, whenever. It was fasanating. "So how does this ship go through time?" she asked. then Doctor glanced at her briefly as he moved around the console panel.

"Oh let's take the fun and mystery out of everything!" he murmured."Trust me, Astrid, you don't want to know, it just does"

"He's probably saying that because he doesn't know himself" Jack grinned. Astrid giggled. The Doctor shot him a glare. The Tardis started rocking and Astrid fell down, Jack fell after her, tumbling on top of her while the Doctor went flying into the railing. The Doctor couldn't help but think if Donna was here she would have found that hilarious."Doc, don't you need a liscense to drive this thing?" growled Jack, who was clinging to the floor. Astrid was clinging to his waist.

"Yes and I failed it" he remarked. Jack stared at him with disbelief. The Tardis slowed down and everybody stood up. Astrid looked a little flushed from holding onto Jack for the last couple of minutes."I promised you one trip and one trip only, Astrid Peth. Outside this door....brave new world" the Doctor looked at her from the doors. She smiled and pratically ran out of the ship.

"Wow, we actually travelled in time!" she exclaimed happily."Where-no when are we?"

"Watch out!" Jack and pulled Astrid back as a man leant out of the window and dumped the contains of his bucket out onto the street.

"Mind the loo" he said AFTER he had gone and dumped it.

"Somewhere before the invention of the toliet, sorry about that" the Doctor apologised. Jack looked at the Doctor, disgusted.

"I guess I've seen worst" Astrid shrugged. "So us being here, doesn't affect anything does it? I mean what if I kill my grandfather?"

"Oh dear lord" Jack mumured."I'm attracted to a physco"

"Why would you want to kill you're grandad?" the Doctor asked and Astrid blushed.

"It was a rhetorical question" she explained.

"Oh" Jack said tonelessly."Are you planning on killing your grandad?"

"No"

"Well, then"

"So this is London?" she asked, changing subject.

"I think so" the Doctor confirmed."About 1599"

"So where are we going?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"I know, the globe threatre! yes, it's brand new, just opened, containing the man himself!" the Doctor proclaimed happily.

"What man?" Jack frowned.

"You really need to get cultured up or something Jack - Shakespear!" the Doctor said, appalled by Jack's ignorance.

"Not THE Shakespear!! Astrid said, surprised.

"The one and only" the Doctor replied and Astrid linked him as they walked inside the building, Jack following behind, not too happy that Astrid had gone off with the Doctor. A few hours later, the play ended and the Doctor, Astrid and Jack stood inside clapping.

"That was amazing!" Astrid beamed."It's worth putting up with the smell"

"Where those men dressed as women?!" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"London never changes" the Doctor commented, amused.

"Where's Shakespear I want to see him?!" Astrid said excitedly."Author, Author!" Jack and the Doctor looked at her strangely."Do people shout that?" around them. a man picked up on what Astrid had been shouting and started chanting it. Soon everyone else joined in.

"Well they do now" the Doctor told her before Shakespear appeared on stage. Astrid gave the Doctor a look of surprise.

"He looks a bit different from his portraits"

"Genius. He's a genius - THE genius, the most human, human, that's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always, he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words!" the Doctor exclaimed with pleasure of seeing his idol.

"Shut you're big fat mouths!" Shakespear yelled and the audience laughed. The Doctor's face fell in disappointment.

"You should never meet your idols" Jack smirked.

"You have excellent taste I'll give you that!" Shakespear grinned."Oh that's a wig!" he pointed to someone in the audience, the Doctor could barely believe this was the same guy who wrote things such as the tempest, the twelfth night and romeo and julliet."I know what you're all saying, 'love labours lost', that's a funny ending isn't it? it just stops!. Will the boys get the girls? well don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah, ALL in good time, you don't rush a genius".

"He loves himself just a little bit" Jack stated.

"Then you too should hit it off just fine" the Doctor snapped. Jack gave him a mocking wounded look. The Doctor gazed at him, amused.

"When? tommorow night!" they heard Shakespear bellow."The premiere of my brand new play, a sequel no less and I call it, 'love labours won'!" Jack and Astrid glanced at the Doctor who had fallen silent. As they left the threatre, Astrid spoke.

"I've never heard of 'love labours won'"

"Exactly - the lost play" the Doctor replied."It doesn't exist - only in rumours. It turns up in lists of his plays but never ever turns up. No one knows why"

"How come it disappeared in the first place?" Astrid frowned.

"Well I was just going to give you a quick trip...but I suppose we could stay a little longer" at that the three of them walked down the street until they got to an inn where Shakespear was staying. Jack and Astrid followed the Doctor up a flight of stairs and into a room where Shakespear was sat talking to two men. "Excuse me? I'm not interrupting am I? isn't it?"

"Oh no, no,no,no, no. Who let you in?. No autographs. No you can't have yourself sketched with me" Shakespear said arrogantly. Jack raised an eyebrow."And please don't ask where I got my ideas from. Thanks for the intereast, now be a good boy and shove-" his eyes fell on Astrid. "Hey, beautiful, come sit next to me. You two back to sewing those costumes, off you go" the two men left the room, Astrid sat down next to Shakespear in there place.

"What a git" Jack mumured.

"Sweet lady, such unusal clothes...so fitted" Jack looked at the man disgusted.

"No one ever said Shakespear was a pervert"

"Um, verily, forsooth, egads" Astrid spluttered. The Doctor, sat down next to her, looked at her bewildered.

"No, don't do that" he mumured into her ear before taking out his physic paper and flashing it at the man. "I am sir Doctor of Tardis, these are my companions Harkness and Miss Astrid Peth"

"Intereasting, that bit of paper it's blank" Shakespear stated. The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh that just proves it. Absolute genius!" he praised, awestruck."Physic paper, long story" he muttered to Astrid.

"Physic. Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly?. More's the point, whose you're delicious blonde lady?" Astrid blushed as Shakespear eyed her up. Suddenly a middle age man entered the room, interrupting them.

"Excuse me! hold a hard moment. This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script . As master of the revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed" the man declared snottily.

"Tommorow morning, first thing, I'll send it round" Shakespear replied coolly.

"I don't work to your schedule! you work to mine. The script now!" he barked.

"I can't" Shakespear replied. The man glared at him vaguely annoyed.

"Then tommorows performance is cancelled" he announced.

"Wow it's busy around here isn't it?" Astrid smiled.

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, 'love labours lost' will never be played!" the four of them watched the man walk out in a huff.

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Jack drawled.

"Well, mystery solved. 'Love labours won' over and done with. I was hoping it would be more mysterious...." Astrid sighed. Suddenly screaming came from outside. Jack looked at the Doctor and didn't really need to know what he was thinking before the three of them ran outside and saw the man, banning the play, lay down on the ground, spitting up water. Dolly, the inn keeper, stood nearby.

"What's wrong with him? - I'm a Doctor" the Doctor said kneeling beside the man.

"So am I near enough" Astrid added and knelt down on his other side.

"I've never seen a death like it" the Doctor exclaimed, shocked."His lungs are full of water - he drowned and then...I dunno, like a blow to the heart, an invisable blow" he looked up at Dolly."Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away" however, another young lady approached them and offered to do instead. So the three of them left her to it and went back into the Inn where Dolly showed them to their room.

"It's not exactly five star" Jack noted with disgust.

"It'll do, I've seen worst" the Doctor retorted.

"How does everyone fit on the bed?" Astrid asked, alarmed at the size of the small double bed.

"I'll sleep on the floor" the Doctor said firmly."Jack can sleep with you" Astrid blushed as Jack winked at her."I didn't mean it like that!"

"Okay, whatever you say Doctor" he smirked.

"Jack you have such a dirty mind. I don't even want to imagine you and Rose in the same room" the Doctor groaned. "Pass me a pillow at least" Jack chucked him a pillow from the bed.

"So what's going on Doctor? it's all magic and voodoo isn't it?" Jack piped up.

"No, it's not magic. Can't be" he muttered."There's such a thing as physic energy but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we would have spotted , there's something I'm missing, Jack. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it. Rose would know" the Doctor sighed."A friend of mine, Rose, she'd know exactly the right thing to say"

"From the way you talk about her, I got the impression she was more than a friend" Jack said casually. The Doctor blushed.

"She was, we were...erm...sort of...together and there was this other friend of mine, Donna. She was brilliant, she was the best friend I could have asked for.....still can't be helped" he said quickly changing subject. Jack and Martha soon fell asleep but the Doctor stayed wide awake, thoughts of Donna and Rose flashing through his mind. They were both trapped alone, one in the wrong time and one in another universe, how had he manage to screw things up so badly? he wished so much he could just go back and stop it but he knew it was forbidden. He still couldn't help but wish. Suddenly there came a terrifying scream, providing a welcomed distraction from his thoughts and the Doctor jumped up and ran out of the room, quickly followed by Jack ans Astrid. They walked into the room where it came from to find Shakespear fast asleep on his desk and Dolly dead on the floor.

"What, what was that?" Shakespear asked, waking with a start.

"She died of fright" the Doctor said, frowning."Literally, her heart gave out"

"Doctor" Jack whispered from the window. Had he just seen what he thought he'd seen?

"What is Jack? what did you see?"

"A witch" he said seriously.

"Oh sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place. We all ran like what could have scared her so? she had such enormous spirit" Shakespear said a few minutes later, of his friend.

"Rage, rage, against the dying of the light" chanted the Doctor. Shakespear looked impressed.

"I might use that"

"You can't it's someone elses" the Doctor replied.

"I think that guys death and Dolly's are connected" Jack piped up and everyone looked at him."I saw a witch , flying cackling away"

"Peter Street spoke of witches" Shakespear said.

"Whose that?" Astrid asked him.

"The architect" Shakespear explained and inadvertantly causing the Doctor to have an epihany resulting in them all being dragged back to the globe theatre where the Doctor proceeded to babble about the way it was built.

"Will, why fourteen sides?" the Doctor asked of the building.

"Just the shape Peter thought was best, carried the sound well" Shakespear shrugged.

"There are fourteen lines in a sonnet" Astrid pointed out.

"Good point" the Doctor praised Astrid while trying to think why the words and shapes were following the same design."Peter Street can I talk to him?"

"You won't get an answer" Shakespear said warningly."A month after finishing this place, he lost his mind"

"What happened?" Astrid asked.

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices his mind was addled"

"Where is he now?" the Doctor inquired.

"Bedlam, the madhouse" Shakespear replied and the group quickly found themselves walking down a street towards Bedlam."So?" Shakespear looked at Astrid flirtily."Tell me about where you come from...where women can be doctors, actors, writers"

"This country is ruled by a woman" Astrid pointed out.

"Ah, she is royal. That's Gods bussiness, though you a royal beauty" Astrid blushed.

"What a lame line" Jack smirked outloud. Shakespear raised an eyebrow at him .

"Sorry mate, I know you have a wife in the country and I don't go for marry guys" Astrid said simply.

"But Astrid this is the country-"

"I don't care, your still married" she smiled.

"Besides, why would she go for you when she already has me?" Jack smirked. Shakespear rolled his eyes.

"Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!" the Doctor snapped.

"Is that a promise Doctor?" Jack and Shakespear said at the same time. They looked at each other taken back.

"Good lord" the Doctor murmured."Get a move on!" they did as he said and they soon found themselves in Bedlam. Astrid didn't supress her disgust at the way the patients were treated, it was awful, nothing like this would happen back in her own time. They finally found themselves in Peter's cell where the Doctor persuaded Peter to tell him his story and Peter told them about the witches right before one actually appeared right next to the Doctor.

"Too many words" she croaked."Just one touch of the heart" she laid her hand on Peter's chest.

"No!" the Doctor yelled out but it was too late and Peter dropped dead.

"Witch, I'm seeing a witch!" Shakespear exclaimed with shock.

"No, you don't say!" Jack snapped.

"Who will be next?" she smirked coldly."Hmm, just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor fragile mortals. Who will die first?"

"Well, if your taking volunteers" the Doctor said casually. Jack looked at his insane friend with disbelief.

"No mortal has power over me" she cackled.

"Oh but theres power in words...If I can just find the right one..."he trailed off thinking.

"None on Earth has knowledge of us" the witch hissed.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here, now think think. Humanoid, female, uses shapes and words to channel energy, ah fourteen! that's it! the fourteen stars of the rexel planetary confirguration! creature, I name you carrionite!" he shouted. The ugly woman wailed in pain before disappearing.

"What on Earth did you just do?" Astrid asked and the Doctor explained about the power of a name, leading him to telling them that words are just a different kind of science, not really magic like Astrid had believed. The group then left Bedlam and returned to Shakespears room in the Inn. The Doctor knew what the carrionites wanted but he needed to find out what they were going to do.

"I'm looking for the man with words" the Doctor said and Shakespear looked offended.

"Me? what did I do?"

"Hold on, what were you doing last night?" Jack asked him.

"Finishing the play" Shakespear replied as if it was obvious.

"What happens on the last page?" the Doctor piped up.

"The boy gets the girl, they dance. It's all funny and thought provoking except the last few lines...I don't remember writing them" Shakespear frowned.

"That's it! they used you! they gave you the writing combination of words - 'Love labours won' is a weapon!" the Doctor announced before launching into yet another speech of techno babble. "Astrid, Jack, we'll track down the Carrionites. Shakespear, do whatever you can to stop that play!"

"I'll do it" Shakespear said shaking the Doctor's hand."Goodluck Doctor!" the man ran out of the toom, leaving the three of them alone. The three quickly left the Inn and found their way to Hallows Street and into the witches house. They found the young Carrionite, Lilith,waiting for them inside.

"I take it we're expected" the Doctor stated.

"Oh I think death has been waiting for you for a very long time" she hissed.

"I name thee Carrionite!" Jack suddenly bellowed, the witch laughed at him humourlessly.

"The power of the name only works once, fool. Like so, I gaze upon this man in darkness and now I name thee Jack Harkness" Jack immediately collasped to the rushed to his side horrified.

"What did you do?" the Doctor snapped angrily.

"Only sleeping, alas. Curious, the name has less impact, he is somehow out of his time. And as for you, sir Doctor!" Lilith waited, expecting a reaction. When she got none, she continued."Fasanating but there is no would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh but look. There is still one word with the power that aches"

"The naming won't work on me" he replied, unimpressed.

"But your heart grows cold. The north wind blows and carries down the distant....Rose" she sneered cruelly. The Doctor stoof up, clearly angry now.

"Oh big mistake because that name keeps me fighting, the Carrionites vanished, where did you go?" he demanded and she explained that the eternals found the right word to banish them into deep darkness and explained what the Carrionites wanted and what they were up too before she plucked one of the Doctor's hairs and flew out of the window. He looked at her alarmed."What did you do?!"

"Souvenier" she said flying higher and twisted the hair round the doll. She stabbed the doll, laughed hysterically and flew away into the night. The Doctor gasped and rolled over on his side in pain. Jack, who had now woken up and Astrid rushed to his side.

"Oh my god Doctor, don't worry we've got you!" Astrid gasped and remembered the two hearts as she listened for a heartbeat

"You're making a habit out of this" he groaned." Aah, I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!" he cried and Astrid hit him on both the left and ride side of his chest as hard as she could. Finally they began working again and when he recovered he picked himself up off the ground and the three of the ran out and headed to the globe theatre.

"We're going the wrong way" Jack growled.

"We're not!" the Doctor snapped as they ran down a street and he realised that Jack was right."We're going the wrong way" Jack rolled his eyes and followed him and Astrid back the way they came.

"Maybe you should listen to me for a change!"

"Did you just say something?" the Doctor asked, sarcastically. When they finally got to the globe theatre, all they could hear was screaming and a red glow of energy pouring out of the globe. The three of them didn't stop to admire the view, the ran in and burst through into the backstage. They say Shakespear sat down rubbing his head. "I told you to stop the play!"

"I hit my head" he groaned.

"Don't rub it you'll go bald" the Doctor warned before another batch of screams nearly deafened them."That's my cue!" Jack followed the Doctor out onto the stage, Astrid following them, grabbing Shakespears hand and taking him with her. "Come on Will, history needs you!" the Doctor said when they got onstage.

"What do I do?" he asked confused.

"Reverse it!" the Doctor replied plainly.

"How?"

"The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it!"

"But what words? I have none ready!" Shakespear yelled, exasperated.

"You're William Shakespear! trust yourself. When you're locked away in a room, the words just come don't they? like magic, so just improvise!" the Doctor said, urgently.

"Close up this den of hateful, dire decay! Decomposition of your witches' plot! You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not!"

"No, words of power!" Lilith shrieked.

"Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show between the points..."Shakespear looked at the Doctor for help.

"7-6-1-3-9-0"

"7-6-1-3-9-0" Shakespear repeated."And banished like a tinkers cuss I say to thee..." Shakespear once again turned to the Doctor but he looked lost himself.

"Expelliarmus!" Jack yelled out of nowhere.

"Expelliarmus!" the Doctor repeated.

"Expelliarmus!" added Shakespear and the Carrinates screamed as they began to get sucked up into the clouds.

"Good old JK" the Doctor grinned and suddenly it was over and there were no more Carrionites.

"Wow people must have thought it was special effects" Astrid smirked.

"Your effect is special indeed" Shakespear said to her charmingly.

"Not your best line" Jack muttered.

The next morning, the four of them were at the globe theatre and Astrid sat with Shakespear saying goodbye. The man continued to flirt with her blatantly and even tried to kiss her but she wasn't having any of it, especially from a married guy.

"Time we be off!" the Doctor said to Shakespear."I've got a nice attic in the Tardis were I can put this lot to scream for all of eternity" the Doctor held up a glass bowl full of Carrionites."And take Astrid back home"

"You mean travel on through time and space" Shakespear said and the three looked at him half alarmed, half surprised.

"What?!" the Doctor said, shocked.

"You're from another world like the Carrionites and Astrid and Jack are from the future" Shakespear stated.

"That's incredible!" the Doctor squealed. Jack supressed a laugh. Suddenly there were interrupted when a man ran in announcing Queen Elizabeth was here to see him. Sure enough, the Queen herself strolled in and the Doctor, Astrid and Jack looked on in awe."Queen Elizabeth!"

"Doctor, my sworn enemy, off with his head!" she ordered.

"What?!" the Doctor gasped as the guards lifted up their bow and arrows.

"Nevermind what, just run, thanks Will by the waY" Jack said grabbing Astrid's hand and followed the Doctor as fast as they could out of there and to the Tardis. They just about made it inside when an arrow hit the ships door.


	26. Rose & Donna

**A/N : Thank you for the reviews. Okay so about my poll, most people chose the filler chapters. This is the first one of three that I plan on writing throughout the entire story, short I know but the next one will be longer. I'll be back on episodes next as well. Also I finally got around to watching the pilot ep of Torchwood, everything changes. Wow, it was bloody brilliant! that's all I can say and Owen is a weirdo !! lol but I do like Gwen, alot, she's tough! :P. **

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Rose had missed the Doctor TWO times now, how could that be possible? She'd missed him when that giant alien web star appeared in London and then she'd missed him when the hospital had been transported to the moon and back. She was getting incredibly frustrated with herself and life and was tempted to just give up but she knew deep down she couldn't. She'd never felt this way about a single person (well if you could call him that!) before but she was still slightly stung that he'd never come looking for her. It was as if he'd already given up on _her _and she felt quite disappointed with Donna too. Surely she would have insisted the Doctor go back and find her? Do whatever it took to get her back? Obviously not. The pair thought she was gone for good. Rose sighed as she flipped through yet another batch of paper work. She supposed she should be happy with her life, no matter how long it had or would drag on for. She had a great team; Ianto was a real sweetheart, Owen... well, there weren't really any words to describe him...Tosh, whizz on computers and her newest recruit, who Rose secretly admired for guts alone, Gwen Cooper. Rose smiled as she thought of her hard working team, they were like a family to her, and they stopped her from going mad after witnessing death after death after death. Just that morning they'd had to stop yet another attack of Weevils. A few people were injured but at least nobody had died or come to serious harm. Gwen had broken her arm but that was it. Okay, so maybe Rose had died once or twice that morning but she didn't count since she came back each and every time. She walked out of her office and into the very messy hub, where she caught Tosh and Owen laughing hysterically about something. "M'am" a voice pulled her from her thoughts. She turned and smiled as Ianto approached her.

"Yes?"

"I taped Mr. Saxon's speech like you asked me too" he told her. Rose grinned gratefully.

"Thank you, Ianto, could you please bring it to my office and a cup of tea please?" she asked politely, he nodded curtly before walking off. She went back into her office and it wasn't long before Ianto knocked on her door and came in with a cup of tea and a tape."Cheers" she said taking them from him. When he was gone she slipped the tape into the recorder and a sandy haired man appeared on the small tv screen she had placed on a small table in front of her desk. She watched as Harold Saxon spoke about curing the country of its diseases and it sounded almost as if he was talking to somebody in particular, an odd feeling rushed through Rose but she chose to ignore it. There was something odd about him, undeniably,but she could possibly be imagining it for all she knew so she decided she'd let it go for now. Probably old age catching up with her...mentally and making her enjoyed the rest of her tea and watch the rest of the speech without letting another thought ruin it for her.

* * *

Donna was no where near satisfied. She sat in the basement of Torchwood, parallel London, and looked at the odd green device in her hands. They'd been working on it for the last two years that she'd been trapped on this bloody universe, all alone, for. When she had first joined Torchwood, the team had realised the walls were starting to collapse again (Donna was secretly rejoicing even if it was a bad thing) and small but weird things were starting to happen and even her dad had agreed with her when she'd decided she needed to get a way back home and find the Doctor."You work too much" Owen, the medic, had told her. She'd hissed and told him to beat it or shut up.

"Hello, Donna, you're not still in here working on that thing are you?" Jake asked coming up from behind.

"Of course I am, this is urgent, I need to get back. You know what's been going on, well I don't want the universe to bloody well end just because I didn't get back in time to warn the Doctor!" she growled. Jake looked at her taken back.

"Geez, I only asked because you looked stressed. Let's go out and I'll buy you a drink, you won't get it done today will you?" he offered, smiling gently.

"I guess you're right" she sighed."It's just been difficult, living on this universe with no family, no friends, nobody I even recognise".

"You have me and you have your father" Jake reminded her gently.

"He's not my real father" Donna said unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice."You're great Jake, really, I just miss my granddad and even my flipping mother and that's really saying something"

"You're lucky, Donna, I can never get rid of mine" Jake joked but Donna looked sad."I'm sorry"

"No, it's alright really"

"Are you sure?" he asked her, concerned.

"You're just trying to cheer me up, I know that. Would you mind just taking me home?" Jake was worried about Donna as of recently, she'd lost her feisty nature gradually over the time she'd spent here and she always seemed to look defeated. The only thing that kept her going anymore was the hope still burning through the dimension cannon that they were trying to build to send her back. Jake was head of the project and he didn't want to tell Donna and get her hopes up or anything but he'd recently discovered it was starting to work ever so slightly. They had, had someone test it, they'd aimed for Egypt but ended up in New York, still it was doing something and that was better than nothing he guessed.


	27. Complete madness pt 1

**A/N : I'm so sorry about how long it's taken to update and I promise I'll try to update sooner but I can't promise anything, it might be a while before I get the next chapter done and posted. Yes I know I've gone and done it again, skipped a couple of episodes and I know most people will be mad at me for that but at the rate I'm going at the moment, it would take me five christmases to get through series 3! besides I wanted to get on the good stuff, I'll try to write all of season 4 if it makes you happy but I don't know yet :). Anyway, sorry for the mistake with shakespear(e) on the last chapter, oops, my bad, now I have microsoft word back so I should have not so many mistakes now.**

* * *

After their trip to see Shakespeare, the Doctor had asked Astrid along for another trip, one to the future. They'd ended up in New, New York, where the Doctor had originally taken Rose and Donna but this time it was in the slums. After Astrid got kidnapped and trapped on the motorway, the Doctor and Jack had managed to investigate and find out what had caused this. That was when an old, familiar face dropped by, Novice Hame, and took the Doctor and Jack to the council where they discovered everybody had died from one of the new mood drugs they were developing called Bliss. They were taken to see the face of Boe, where the face proceeded to flirt with the Doctor, to Jack's great amusement and helped them in saving the people on the motorway. Then she told the Doctor he was not alone before dying because the power had caused her jar to smash. The Doctor had not idea what she had meant by 'you are not alone' but decided to shrug it off before being reunited with Astrid. The Doctor then decided it would be alright for one more trip and they ended up in 1930's New York, however, unfortunately their fun was ruined once again by people mysteriously going missing. Eventually they discovered it was the daleks causing it, much to the Doctor's fury and it turned out that they were experimenting on humans turning the dumber ones into slave pigs and using the others for different tests. The Doctor, Astrid and Jack managed to defeat them but only after their leader, Dalek Sec, sacrificed himself and became part human and decided the daleks needed to change. He died when he jumped in front of a Dalek ray for the Doctor. The other three died while dalek Caan, the remaining dalek escaped after refusing the Doctor's help again. Astrid was disappointed when they decided it was time to take her home but they ended up staying when Astrid's sister was on the news next to this Lazarus guy, who announced he would change what it meant to be human. Obviously, this caught this caught the Doctor's interest and the three ended up attending the party, where Lazarus stepped into a machine and came out looking twenty five when he was clearly in his seventies or eighties before. Astrid took some of his DNA after he kissed her hand and they went up into the lab where the Doctor was horrified to see his DNA was changing. Sure enough, after finding lady Thaw's dried up body in his office, they followed Astrid's sister to the rooftop where Lazarus changed into a monster. Eventually Jack and Astrid managed to get the monster to chase them to the top of the bell tower in the church they had found him in. The Doctor played the organs loudly, causing Lazarus to fall to his death, just in time for Jack to save Astrid who was hanging off the bell tower, frightened. They all arrived back at her flat and the Doctor decided to reward with another trip but she refused to be a passenger so the Doctor said she could stay and after she packed some clothes, the three went back in the Tardis to travel through time and space together. They'd ended up on some mystical planet and were having the time of their lives before some aliens started chasing them back to the ship, trying to kill the Doctor. The Doctor grabbed Astrid's hand and pulled her into the Tardis, Jack just about made it inside as the aliens shot a ray of green light at them."Did they see you?" the Doctor asked his companions, urgently. Astrid looked at him alarmed.

"I don't know" she replied.

"Jack?" the Doctor looked at Jack.

"I was too busy running" he answered.

"It's important – did they see your face?" he demanded.

"No they couldn't have" Astrid told him on Jack's behalf too.

"Off we go" the Doctor said briskly as he ran around the console and pressed down some buttons. Suddenly something on the monitor caught his eye, he looked vaguely annoyed."Ah, They're following us"

"How can they do that? You have a time machine!" Astrid pointed out, alarmed.

"Stolen technology, they've got a Time Agent's vortex manipulator. They can follow us wherever we go, right across the universe. They're never going to stop" the Doctor paused and ran a hand nervously through his hair. His eyes widened."Unless...I'm going to have to do it. Jack, Astrid, do you trust me?" he looked at his companions intensely.

"Of course we do" Jack said firmly.

"Because it all depends on you two" the Doctor told them, pulling out an old fashioned pocket watch from underneath the console.

"What is that? What are we suppose to do?" Astrid asked bemused.

"Take this watch, Jack, Astrid, cause my life depends on it, Astrid, Jack, the watch is-"suddenly John Smith's eyes shot open. He sat up in his bed and then shortly after, there came a knock at the door."Come in!" the door opened and his maid, Astrid, walked in carrying a tray of breakfast.

"Oh sorry sir, you are not dressed yet, I can come back later" she said awkwardly as 'John Smith' got out of bed and slipped his dressing gown on.

"No it's alright, put it down" he said softly. Astrid smiled gratefully and placed the tray of food down in a table that stood in the middle of the room."I was um...sorry, sorry...sometimes I have these extraordinary dreams" Astrid gave him a strange glance.

"What about sir?" she asked politely before quickly adding "if you don't mind me asking".

"I dream I'm this adventurer, this daredevil...a madman.' The Doctor' I'm called and last night I dreamt both you and my brother Jack where there as my companions" he replied, dreamily.

"Two teachers and a maid sir? That's impossible" Astrid smiled.

"Ah no, a man from another world though" John explained.

"Well that can't be true because there's no such thing" Astrid said gently.

"That thing...the watch" John Smith picked up the pocket watch that lay on the mantelpiece. He sighed, dramatically."Ah it's funny how dreams slip away but I do remember one thing :it all took place in the year of our lord two thousand and seven"

"I can prove that wrong sir, here's the morning paper" Astrid said as she handed him the newspaper."It's Monday, November Tenth, nineteen thirteen and you're completely human sir. As human as they come"

"Hmm...that's me, as human as they come" he agreed. A few minutes later, John Smith was dressed in a brown suit and bow tie and heading down for his first class of the day. He walked in and began talking about the Battle of Waterloo. Meanwhile Astrid sat on the floor outside the room, wiping the floors. The bell rang and the class was dismissed and as the Doctor came out, Astrid smiled at him warmly.

"Morning sir" she said politely.

"Yes, hi" he replied, sounding and looking slightly distracted. They watched him disappear as he walked up the stairs before Jenny, the second maid, looked at Astrid amused.

"Head in the clouds that one" Astrid smiled at Jenny when two of the boys that attended the school walked past and stopped to glare at them.

"Right then you two, your not paid to have fun, put a little back bone into it" he sneered.

"Yes sir, of course, sorry" Jenny apologised.

"You two run along" a voice said from behind them and Astrid recognised that American drawl. She glanced up and saw Jack grinning at her. The two boys did as he said.

"Thanks Jack" Astrid beamed.

"No problem sweetheart" he said before walking away. Jenny looked stunned and slightly offended by the way Jack had called Astrid 'sweetheart'.

"Please tell you two aren't-"

"No, we're just old friends! I was his maid back in London before he and his brother moved here and brought me with them. He calls me sweetheart because of a old joke..." Astrid explained after cutting Jenny off. Thankfully Jenny seemed to buy this and continued scrubbing. Meanwhile, John was walking up the stairs, not paying much attention as he carried his books.

"Morning " a sweet young voice said and John fell over in suprise dropping all of his books. The young woman he recognised as Matron Sparrow, bent down and helped him back up before helping pick up his books.

"Thank you, you didn't need too ,I had it "John stumbled over his words. The Matron smiled at him politely. "I've got it now"

"Good" she replied brightly.

"No harm done, so um, how was Jenkins?" John asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Oh just a cold, nothing serious, I think he's missing his mother more than anything"

"Aw, can't have that" the John said sympathetically. "He received a letter this morning, so he's a lot more chipper. I appear to be holding your books" Matron Sparrow pointed out. John went red as he snapped back to reality.

"Oh yes you are, sorry, sorry" John replied awkwardly and started taking some of his books from her.

"No, why don't I take half?" she offered, kindly.

"Ah brilliant idea, brilliant, perfect. A division of labour" he grinned.

"We make quite a team" she said softly.

"Don't we just" John agreed.

" So these books, were they being taken in any particular direction?" she asked him.

"Yes, um, this way" John said and they walked on down a corridor in companionable silence until he finally spoke again."I always say, Matron, give boys a good head of steam, they'll soon wear themselves out"

"Oh I'd prefer for you to call me Nurse Sparrow, 'Matron' sounds, well Matronly" Matron Sparrow smiled softly.

"Okay Nurse Sparrow it is then"

"Though I suppose we've known each other for two months...you could even say 'Sally'" the matron said, fluttering her eyelashes. John immediately started blushing.

"Erm...yes..." he said flustered.

"And it's John isn't it?" John nodded awkwardly in reply. The two walked on in silence again until Sally stopped in front of a notice board."Have you seen this John?, the annual dance at the village hall tomorrow, it's nothing formal but do you think you'll go?" she said and he didn't miss the hopeful tone in her voice.

"I hadn't thought about it" John said, embarrassed.

"I haven't been to a dance in ages – no ones asked me" Sally looked at him as if she was trying to will him into asking her. John then launched into an awkward babble about nothing and Sally suddenly realised what was about to happen."The stairs!"

"What?"

"They're right behind you!" Sally warned but before she could help him, he overbalanced, stumbled backwards and fell right down the stairs. Jack chose that moment to turn up. He raised an eyebrow and suppressed a laugh at John's state. John looked up at Sally, clearly embarrassed.

"What's going on?" Jack asked, looking at Sally.

"He just fell down the stairs, I'm a nurse, let's get him up to his room" Sally said as she rushed to his aid, clearly concerned. Jack couldn't help but compare the clumsy idiot John Smith to the confident, babbling, Doctor. He could not believe they were the same person right at this moment in time. As they walked they helped John Smith the Doctor, up and walked him back to his room, Sally looked at Jack and asked "Your John's brother are you not?"

"Yes I am and don't worry John's always been slightly, well, accident prone" Jack smirked as they walked into the Doctor's room and sat him down on a chair. Sally left for a second but when she came back she immediately started cleaning John's cut on his forehead. He started to groan.

"Stop it. I get boys who make less fuss than this" she said gently.

"He is a boy" Jack muttered.

"What?" Sally asked, Jack smiled.

"Nothing"

"It hurts" John whined. Suddenly the door flew open and Astrid rushed in.

"Is he alright?" she asked, worriedly.

"Excuse me Astrid it's hardly good form to enter the master's study with knocking" John said pompously. Astrid's cheeks coloured slightly but went back, knocked and re-entered. Jack looked at her highly amused. "Are you alright? They said you fell down the stairs sir"

"It was a tumble" he muttered and then started telling Nurse Sparrow all about his dreams to Jack and Astrid's alarm but luckily she laughed it off, believing he simply had a good imagination. However, he handed her a diary that he'd drawn stuff in about his dreams. Sally was impressed particularly with the aliens; Jack caught a quick glimpse and was surprised when he saw a drawing of two women. The bell rang and Sally left the room with the diary, Jack quickly went after he.

"M'am, the book!"

"Oh I'll look after it, don't worry, he said I could read it" she smiled.

"It's just my 'brothers' over active imagination that's all" Jack said, trying to shrug it off.

"Of course" Sally said but something about her voice told Jack she didn't believe him. He watched her walk away before heading to one of his classes. Meanwhile in the evening Astrid and Jack went for a drink at the nearest pub. Jack went in and brought out to pints and placed one in front of Astrid.

"This is annoying; we've been here for two months now" Astrid sighed."I'd like to see my family again eventually you know?"

"Don't worry, we'll about to leave when the Doctor opens the watch" Jack replied, comfortingly.

"When will he though? What if NEVER opens it?" Astrid pointed out."He didn't think this through"

"Well his life was in danger, he didn't get much time" Jack snapped but softened immediately."I know you miss your normal clothes and you hate the cleaning and getting treated like low-class flith, I get that"

"Did you hear the Doctor earlier?" Astrid laughed with disbelief."He's such a snob!"

"It's not his fault, he isn't usually like that" Jack said in the Doctor's defense. Suddenly the sight of a distressed looking Sally Sparrow caught Astrid's eye.

"Hello there nurse Sparrow, how are you this evening?"

"Did you see that? Something in the woods? That light?!" she exclaimed breathlessly. Jack and Astrid exchanged frowns.

"Anything wrong ladies, Jack?" a voice asked and they all turned to see John Smith emerging from inside the pub. "Far too cold to be standing around in the dark, don't you-"

"There look in the sky!" Sally shouted, cutting off John. They all looked up to see a green light shoot through the sky. Jack and Astrid looked at each other, a bad feeling stirring in the pits of their stomachs.

"There ...Orgom. Commonly known as meteorite, it's just rocks falling to the ground thats all" John explained, simply. Astrid narrowed her eyes at John Smith; he was one of those people who couldn't just let things be beautiful, there always had to be an explaination behind it. Although the Doctor was like that when he was himself too so she had no idea why she was starting to get irritated now. Probably because John Smith really got on her nerves. He acted like an idoit. "Would you like me to escort you back to the school ladies?" he asked Astrid and Sally.

"Oh I'm fine, Mr. Smith shall take, won't you?" Astrid asked Jack quickly, who stood up immediately.

"It would be my honour" he said and they two linked.

"Well in that case, I shall bid you goodnight" John said politely and watched Jack and Astrid disappear. While they were walking, Astrid and Jack talked about what that green light could be. They decided they try to figure it out before anything bad happened. "Let's go to the Tardis" Jack said and Astrid agreed. The two walked into an old barn in the woods and into the familiar blue box. When they were inside, Jack turned on the monitor and watched as the Doctor's face filled up the screen and started rambling about their instructions. Meanwhile the next day the Doctor was visited by one of his students Latimer. While John launched into a lecture, Latimer was drawn to the watch on the mantelpiece. When John wasn't looking, the boy took the watch and placed it into one of his pockets before leaving the room. John Smith was now outside watching some of his students practice their shooting when Sally Sparrow caught his attention, he approached her but she seemed upset about something.

"I'll give you back your journal" she said tonelessly.

"You don't have to do that" the Doctor said, dismayed and bemused by Sally's behaviour.

"If you'll excuse me Mr. Smith, I was just thinking about the day my fiancé was shot" she sniffed and walked away. The Doctor, understanding why she was upset, followed her and asked her to walk him into town and tell her what happened. She agreed and while they walked, she talked about how her and her fiancé had fallen in love and he'd died while fighting for the army.

"I'm sorry" he said sympathetically and she changed subjects to his journal. To his surprise she seemed to believe everything was real and didn't bother hiding her interest. He stared at her and couldn't help but think how beautiful she was...maybe it was about time he asked her to the ball. "Nurse Sparrow, might I invite you to the village dance this evening as my guest?" Sally looked at him, positively thrilled.

"You are an extraordinary man!" she beamed happily. Later in the afternoon, Jack found Astrid cleaning, he rolled his eyes and helped her up on her feet.

"Come on take a break, how about we check on the Doc?" Jack suggested. Astrid, relieved with the prospect of having an excuse not to clean, nodded in agreement and the two walked upstairs and Jack, figuring since he's his brother he didn't have to bother with manners, swung open the door to see Sally Sparrow and the Doctor kissing passionately. The two broke away and turned red. "Oh, sorry" Jack said, surprised and the two scurried out of the room."I can't wait to throw that into the Doctor's face next time he has a go at me for making out when we suppose to be saving lives"

"But we're not saving lives right now are we?" Astrid pointed out with a grin.

"Of course we are, Miss Peth, we're saving his sorry ass from those alien things" Jack smirked smugly. Astrid rolled her eyes before deciding on going back to the maid's chamber. She went in and started making herself a cup of tea when Jenny suddenly marched in. "There you are! Come and look what I've got. Mr Pool didn't want his afternoon tea so the cook said I could have it. There's enough for two" Astrid offered kindly but Jenny just stood at the door, sniffing."What are you standing there for? Are you alright?" she frowned.

"I must have a cold coming on" Jenny replied before sitting down. Astrid brought a tray of food and tea, placed it on the table and sat on the chair opposite her.

"It's never going to work" Astrid muttered.

"What?" Jenny asked her.

"Matron Sparrow and Mr. Smith, he's leaving in a few week" Astrid explained.

"Where?"

"All sorts of places. I wish I could tell you Jenny but its complicated" she sighed but when Jenny continued preying, Astrid got suspicious and decided to change subject. She knew something was wrong for sure after she asked Jenny if she wanted some tea so Astrid made up an excuse and legged it out of the chamber, only for Jenny to follow and point a gun at her. She blasted a ray of green light at her but it narrowly missed and Astrid decided she needed to get Jack and they needed to get the Doctor. Jack was just sat in his classroom when Astrid came in. "They've found us!" she panted."We need to get the Doctor" Jack nodded and the two raced off towards the village hall where the dance was being held. Astrid got in when Jack pretended she was his date for the evening. They found Sally Sparrow sat at a table.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely. They sat down next to her, looking urgent.

"John Smith isn't human and it isn't his real name. His called the Doctor and he's very important, there are people searching for him, would you tell us where he is?" Jack demanded. Sally looked alarmed when John came up from behind them.

"Ah Jack, Astrid, what are you two doing here?" he asked pleasantly.

"You're not John Smith, your the Doctor" Jack told him. John Smith looked at him taken back.

"Have you been reading my journal? Besides they're just fantasies, they're not real-"

"Shut up and listen to me, it's important. Your the Doctor alright, have a look at this" Jack pulled out the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and waved it about in John's face. John frowned.

"Don't you recognise it?" Astrid piped up. The Doctor took it from Jack and turned it around in his hands. He looked as if he was about to say something when suddenly Jenny barged into the room, followed by a young girl, a middle aged man and a skinny, dark haired teenager. They all pulled out the same guns Jenny had used earlier. Astrid and Jack looked alarmed.

"There will be silence, all of you!" the middle aged man ordered."We have a few questions for Mr. Smith" Astrid and Jack looked at John, who looked horrified.

"You took human form" the dark haired boy, that the Doctor recognised as Baines stated.

"Well of course, I am human! I was born human! As were you Baines, Jenny and you Mr. Clark, what is this madness?!" John spluttered shocked.

"We need a time lord" Mr. Clark replied coldly."Change back"

"I don't know what you're talking about" the Doctor insisted. Jenny grabbed hold of Astrid and Mr. Clark got hold of Jack, they pointed the guns at their heads while Baines grabbed nurse Sparrow.

"If you don't change back, one of these will die. What will it be? Astrid, Jack or Matron Sparrow? Your friend, brother or lover?" Baines smirked coldly. The Doctor's eyes widened in horror, he couldn't just chose somebody to die, what on earth was he suppose to do?.


	28. Complete madness pt 2

**A/N : Sorry if this chapter is a bit boring, there wasn't much of the dialogue I could change since it was important to the episode. And the point of changing Joan to Sally was to liven the episode up a bit, it's not as vital to the plot as Rose, Jack and Donna was.**

** It will be a while before I update again probably but if I have at least five or Six reviews for this chapter, I might try to update a more than just once a you to those who've taken the time to review every chapter even when they suck!! :). **

**Oh yeah and to people wondering why I skipped only one episode in season one - the ninth Doctor was only in that one series so I wanted as many with him in as possible and I will be writing ALL of season four, I swear, cross my heart hope to die, lol (besides I already had this planned out ages ago).**

**Remember to review! (I'll shut up now).**

* * *

"Make your decision, Mr Smith" Jenny hissed coldly. John's eyes diverted from Sally to Astrid, from Astrid to Jack and he looked completely clueless, which of course he was. In the crowd, Latimer reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out John Smith's pocket watch.

"Perhaps if that human heart breaks, the Time Lord will emerge" Baines smirked cruelly at the same moment Latimer opened the watch. In the watch was a glowing yellow light and a voice was whispering words."It's him!" Baines yelled with realisation. Making good use of the distraction, Astrid and Jack fought their way out of Jenny and Mr. Clark's grips. They grabbed the guns and now Jack and Astrid were the ones holding the guns at them.

"One more move and we'll shoot" Jack growled.

"Don't think we won't" Astrid added.

"Oh the maid and the teacher are so full of fire" Baines hissed.

"And you can shut up!" Jack snapped and Astrid fired the gun to the ceiling as a warning.

"Careful son of mine, this is all for you so that you can live forever" Mr. Clark warned.

"Shoot you down" Baines snapped.

"Try it. We'll all die together" Jack grinned at Baines who was holding two guns in both hands, one pointed at him and one at Astrid but they were both holding his 'family' hostage.

"Would you really pull the trigger? You look so scared Miss Peth" Baines said to Astrid, patronisingly. If there was one thing Astrid hated, it was being patronised.

"Scared and holding a gun. It's a good combination, do you really want to risk it?!" Astrid asked him, unfazed. Jack looked at her admiringly. Baines narrowed his eyes at her and glanced at the clearly terrified John Smith before dropping Sally. The young woman rushed to John's Smith side. _Yeah as if he'd do a great job of protecting her _Jack thought slightly irritated. He liked the old Doctor, he wanted his friend back. Now was the moment Jack decided to take charge.

"Doctor, get everyone out, there's a door at the side, it's over there, go on!" he commanded but to his annoyance, John Smith/the Doctor, stood there gormlessly. "Oi, I'm talking to you, do it!"

"Do what he said, get everyone out now" Sally told him gently and proceeded to help him usher the civilians outside."Don't argue with me Mr Jack, they're mad, that's all we need to know. Susan, Miss Cooper, outside all of you!"

"Move yourself boy, back to the school quickly" John said to Latimer who was still stood there.

"You go on, just go" Jack barked at the Doctor.

"What about you two?" John asked concerned about his 'maid' and 'brother'.

"Escort your lady friend out of here, we'll be okay" Jack replied. The Doctor glanced back quickly at them before grabbing Sally's hand and leading her outside. Outside, the Doctor began giving people instructions.

"Mr. Hicks, go to the village, get everyone out. Latimer, go back to school and tell the headmaster-"

"Don't touch me! You're as bad as them!" Latimer yelped to John's alarm and he watched, bemused, as the boy ran off. Inside the hall, Astrid and Jack still stood there holding Clark and Jenny hostage. "Don't try anything or your friends get it" Astrid growled.

"He's almost brave, this one" Baines said, amusement dancing in his cold eyes. Jack and Astrid let go of Clark and Jenny but Jack and Astrid still held up their guns.

"I should of taken her form. Much more fun, so much spirit" Jenny sneered.

"What did you do to Jenny?" Astrid asked, frightened.

"She is consumed, her body is mine" the alien replied.

"She's dead" Astrid said quietly.

"I'm sorry" Jack said compassionately.

"Yes and she went with precious little dignity. All that –aah—screaming" suddenly two scarecrows grabbed Jack and Astrid from behind.

"Get the gun" Baines ordered.

"Sneaky bastards" Jack muttered and the two fought off the scarecrows and quickly ran outside, holding hands. The saw the Doctor and Sally stood outside waiting for them.

"Don't just stand there, god your rubbish as a human! Come on!" Jack barked and the couple followed the other couple down the lane. They eventually got back to the school and when they did, the Doctor closed the big wooden double doors behind them and began ringing a bell.

"What the hell are you doing?" Astrid asked, bewildered.

"Maybe one man can't fight them but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms, take arms!" the Doctor shouted. Astrid was shocked as she realised what he planned on doing. Her blood ran cold at the thought of the young boys risking their lives. Jack glared at the man that was in the Doctor's body and knew the sooner the Doctor was back to normal, the better.

"You can't do that" Jack snapped.

"You want me to fight don't you? Take arms! Take arms!" John yelled as hundreds of boys began rushing down the stairs including the headmaster.

"I say sir, what's the matter?" one boy asked.

"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson. Enemy at the door, take arms!" Jack silently vowed he was going wring the Doctor's neck if he said take arms one more time. Astrid stared at John horrified.

"You can't do this, Doctor, I mean, Mr Smith!" she cried but the Doctor ignored her and began walking down the hallway with Sally following him. Astrid and Jack immediately went after them and none of them noticed Latimer behind them holding the watch. Jack and Astrid stood outside and watch the headmaster confront Baines who kept demanding John Smith to the headmaster's bemusement.

"You speak with someone else's voice, Baines. Who might that be?" he demanded.

"We are the family of blood" Baines answered coolly.

"Mr. Smith said there have been deaths"

"Yes sir! And they were good, sir!" Baines smirked.

"Well I warn you, the school is armed" the headmaster snapped before Baines started yapping on about time travel to the headmaster's annoyance,

"Run along, headmaster. Run back to the school and send us Mr. Smith" the young man ordered. The headmaster glared at him before marching off to where the Doctor was getting the boys ready.

"Mr. Phillips has been murdered, Mr. Smith, can you tell me why?"

"Honestly, sir, I have no idea and the telephone lines been disconnected, we're on our own" John replied.

"If we have to make a fight of it, then make a fight we shall. Gentlemen, in the name of the king, we shall stand against them"

"Yes sir" the boys answered.

"Right, get on, let's get moving" one of the boys commanded and the others followed him in agreement. A few moments later, the headmaster and John stood in the foyer of the school agreeing where to fight. They agreed the stables. Meanwhile, Jack and Astrid had snuck off to search the John Smith's office for the fob watch. They needed to find it and get the Doctor back so they could stop the fighting and get rid of the aliens and hopefully save lives and a lot of aggravation. Sally Sparrow had followed them, not wanting to see all of the young students preparing to fight.

"You probably think we're crazy but when the Doctor became human, he took the alien part of himself and stored it inside the watch although it's not really a watch, it simply looks like one" Jack explained. Sally looked like she had a bad headache or something.

"And alien means, not from aboard I take it" she said, tonelessly.

"The man you call John Smith, he was born on another world" Astrid told her gently.

"A different species" Sally stated. Astrid nodded.

"Then who are you two?"

" I'm Jack and this is Astrid, we're what he likes to call companions and don't worry, we are as human as you" Jack grinned.

"So your not his brother?" Sally asked.

"No" he confirmed.

"Oh" was all Sally could think of to reply. After a minute or two, Sally left the room and changed into her uniform. She went downstairs into a room where she began preparing herself for the battle, as much as she hated the thought of her young students fighting out there.

"Joan it's not safe" John's voice startled her as he walked in.

"I'm doing my duty as much as you. It was a lovely evening we had together" Sally smiled weakly.

"Not quite as planned" John muttered.

"Tell me about Nottingham" Sally said suddenly.

"Sorry?" John looked at her confused.

"That's where you were brought up, tell me about it"

"Well, it lies on the River Leen, it's Southern boundary following the course of the River Trent which flows from stoke to the Humber" Sally frowned at the description.

"That sounds like an encyclopaedia, tell me where did you LIVED" the Doctor replied with more facts and was starting to accuse Sally of believing him not being real.

"When I kissed you was that a lie?" he snapped.

"No it wasn't no"

"But this Doctor sounds like some...some romantic lost prince. Would you rather that? Am I not enough?" John was looking at her with a wounded expression.

"No, that's not true. Never" Sally insisted.

"I've got to go" the Doctor told her as the headmaster called out his name. He gave her a lingering kiss before leaving her alone in the room to contemplate things. In John's office, Jack and Astrid gave up. The watch was no where in sight, the Doctor must have it on him or something, they decided so they walked out in search of their friend. They went to the stables and found him there with the headmaster, ordering the young boys to fight. However, with the appearance of a little girl, he ordered them to cease fire. Astrid and Jack chose that moment to show themselves.

"You child, come out of the way. Come into the school. You don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here. Come to me"

"Don't go near her" Jack warned.

"Be quiet" the headmaster snapped. Jack glared at the ignorant man.

"Listen to me, she's part of it! Matron, tell him" Astrid pleaded with Sally who stood nearby.

"I think--I don't know. I think you should stay back, Headmaster" she agreed.

"Mr. Smith" Astrid looked at John for help.

"She was--she was with--with Baines in the village" he confirmed but the headmaster wasn't having any of it.

"Mr Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir. Come with me" the headmaster looked kindly at the little girl. Jack rolled his eyes. Whatever happened next would be his own fault for not listening.

"You're funny" the girl said coldly.

"That's right. Now take my hand" the headmaster said gently but the little girl did nothing.

"So funny" she repeated before taking out a gun and shooting the man. Jack and Astrid exchanged grim expressions. " Now who's going to shoot me - any of you, _really_?" "Put down your guns" John commanded and the boys lowered their rifles.

"But sir-"

"I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat...in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way" the Doctor said, cutting off Hutchinson's protests. Baines arrived at that same moment.

"Go on then run!" he yelled, holding his gun in the boys started panic as they retreated.

"Come on!" Astrid cried out before John, Sally, Astrid and Jack led the boys out via a passage through the stables.

"Let's go! Quick as you can!" John commanded.

"Don't go to the village! It's not safe!" Jack told them.

"And you, ladies!" John added.

"Not until we get the boys out" Sally said firmly before they made their way outside of the stable.

"Now, I insist. The pair of you just go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them" John said before opening the door to the passage only to see a scarecrow standing there."I think...retreat" and the group began to run in the opposite direction and a few moments later, found themselves running into the woods, near the school, where they began to hear a voice calling out.

"Doctor! Doctor!" the voice belong to Mr. Clark. They glanced back towards the school and Jack and Astrid looked alarmed as they saw the possessed man standing in front of the Tardis that they had somehow moved from the shed. "Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize"

"Out you come, Doctor! There's a good boy. Come to the Family" Baines joined in with his voice that gave Astrid the creeps.

"Time to end it now!" Jenny added.

"You recognise it don't you?" Jack asked 'John' softly.

" I've never seen it in my life" he denied.

"Do you remember its name?" Astrid piped up.

"I'm sorry, John, but you wrote about it. The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box" Sally told him. They all looked at John, who looked as if he wanted to cry. Jack and Astrid felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"I'm not--I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life...and his job...and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

"Yes. Yes, he is" Sally said softly.

"Why can't I stay?" John whispered.

"We need the Doctor" Jack said firmly.

"So what am I then, nothing? I'm just a story" he snapped in reply before running off. Sally followed him and not long after so did Astrid and Jack. The group soon found themselves rushing down a country road, barely stopping for breath.

"I know somewhere we can hide" Sally announced."Trust me, come on" the group followed the young nurse further down the road. They eventually stopped outside a dark house." Here we are. It should be empty. Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far"

"Who lives here?" Astrid frowned.

"If I'm right, no one" Sally replied and the group followed Sally through the unlocked front door. They found themselves walking into a small cottage kitchen with tea on the table."Hello? no one home, we should be safe here. Hello? No one home. We should be safe here" Astrid asked again whose house it was and Sally explained it was Cartwright's, who probably went after their daughter Lucy, who was now processed by those aliens and were more than likely vanished. John took a seat at the table and clearly looked distressed.

"I must go to them before anyone else dies" he sighed.

"There must be something we can do" Sally said looking at Jack and Astrid.

"Not without the watch" Astrid explained.

"You're this Doctor's companions! Can't you help? What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?" John suddenly cried out.

"Oh charming Jack barked sarcastically.

"Because he's lonely" Astrid replied with a serious answer, ignoring Jack's comment.

"And that's what you want me to become" he said coldly before there a knock at the door. Astrid went and opened it to find Latimer stood there.

"I brought you this" he said, handing her the watch. Astrid took and held it in front of John.

"Hold it" she said gently.

"I won't" he refused tempting Jack into chucking it at him instead. John Smith was getting on his nerves. He wanted the Doctor back and fast but things were never that simple when it came to him.

"Please, just hold it" Astrid begged.

"It told me to find you. It wants to be held" Latimer added.

"You've had this watch all this time? Why didn't you return it?" Sally asked the boy.

"Because it was waiting. And because I was scared of the Doctor" Latimer explained.

"Why?" Sally frowned, bemused.

"Because...I've seen him. He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun" Latimer replied.

"Stop it" John snapped.

"He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe" Latimer continued as if John had never spoken.

"Stop! I said stop it"

"And he's wonderful" Latimer finished. Before John could say anything, Sally reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the journal which he insisted where just stories but the way Sally looked at him, made him believe she thought otherwise. Suddenly, outside there came an explosion causing them all to gasp in shock.

" They're destroying the village" Sally said, horrified.

"Watch" John said suddenly and everyone watched him finally pick up the pocket watch. He heard whispering, Latimer looked at him closely.

"Can you hear it?" the boy asked him.

"I think he's asleep, waiting to be awakened" John stated.

"Why did he speak to me?" Latimer frowned.

" Oh, low-level telepathic field" Jack and Astrid glanced at each other, astonished at seeing the Doctor suddenly appear." You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing-" John realised what he was doing and stopped, shocked. "Is that how he talks?"

" That's him! All you have to do is open it and he's back" Astrid squealed but unfortunately, it appeared she'd said the wrong thing because the next thing she knew John was looking vaguely annoyed.

"You knew this, yet you still watched while nurse Sparrow and I-"

" We didn't know how to stop you! He gave us a list of things to watch out for but that wasn't included" Jack explained, coming to Astrid's rescue. However this only made John more appalled with the Doctor's life style, falling in love had never even occurred to him.

"Then what sort of man is that? And now you expect me to die?" John spluttered with disbelief.

"It was always going to end, though! The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said" Astrid said, feeling slightly nervous but the murderous expression on John's face but the expression only annoyed Jack even more.

" So your job was to execute me" he said coldly. This time Jack was the one to jump in and reply.

"People are dying out there! They need him. Me and Astrid need him. We don't even belong here! This isn't our time and if you don't become the Doctor, then we're royally screwed" suddenly the house began rocking with explosions. The village was getting more destroyed as they stood around in the kitchen. Just when Jack thought this night couldn't drag any longer, John opened his mouth and suggested they hand the watch over to the family and he can stay how he was. Jack felt his tempter flare. "You can't do that, you coward!" he snarled viciously.

"If they get what the want then-"

"Then it all ends in destruction. I never read to the end but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars...for every child" Sally cut in much to John's surprise and Jack's relief because he probably would have ended up doing something to John Smith that he'd regret in the long run. John sank down in his chair, on the verge of tears. "Astrid, Jack, Timothy, would you leave us alone please?" Sally asked and they all obliged immediately. Sally quickly hugged John as he started to sob. When he finished crying, Sally took a seat next to him and were both staring at the watch in John's hands. "If I could do this instead of you, I would. I am so sorry" A tear slipped down Sally cheek as she looked at him.

"He won't love you" he told her tonelessly.

"If he's not you, I don't want him too" she replied firmly. "Do you mind, if I see?" she took the watch off John and turned it over with her fingers."Blasted thing" she murmured. "I can't even here it" suddenly John put his hand over Sally's which was holding the watch and a bunch of visions flashed through their mind, right from their wedding, birth of their first child, a walk in the park with their kids and then dying at an old age.

"Did you see?" he asked Sally. Sally smiled sadly.

"The time lord has such adventures but he could never have a life like that"

"And yet I could" he whispered staring at the watch.

"What are you going to do?" Sally asked him.

* * *

Meanwhile sat in their spaceship, the family sat around talking about their plans."We'll blast them into dust, fuse the dust into glass and then shatter them all over again!" Baines growled. Suddenly there was a noise and they all turned to see John Smith walked into the ship.

"Just-"he tripped up as he walked towards them and 'accidently' pressed a few buttons. "Just stop the bombardment, that's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want, just stop"

"Say please" Baines smirked cruelly.

"Please" John begged.

"Wait a minute. Still human" Jenny said after sniffing the air deeply.

"Now I can't--I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know that I'm innocent in all this. He made me John Smith. It's not like I had any control over it" he spluttered. Jenny looked at him highly amused.

"He didn't just make himself human, he made himself an idiot" she hissed.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Baines joked humourlessly.

"I don't care about this Doctor and your family; I just want you to go. So, I've made my choice. You can have him. Just take it, please! Take him away" John said handing them the watch. Baines stared at it with a greedy expression.

"At last. Don't think that saved your life" he snarled, grabbing John by the collar and pushed the Doctor away. As he fell, he once again 'accidently' hit some more buttons."Family of mine, now we shall have the lives of a time lord" as he opened the watch, they all breathed deeply but nothing happened. "It's empty!"

"Well, where's it gone?" John asked.

"You tell me" Baines narrowed his eyes at the Doctor suspiciously before chucking the watch at him. John caught it one handed.

"Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection--little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it has got to be said—"the Doctor explained, slipping on his glasses."_)_ I don't like the looks of that hydroconometre. It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retro stabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converter--ah_)_ 'Cause if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice—Run" the Doctor flashed them a grin before running out of the ship, the family following behind right behind. The ship exploded behind them and they barely managed to get out on time. When it was done, the Doctor punished the family by using his Tardis to trap them in various places forever. He came back and went to visit Sally, who still waiting for him at the cottage. "It's done" the Doctor told her, she smiled at him shyly.

"Oh good. Doctor – where is he, John Smith?" Sally asked him, getting right to the point.

"He's in here somewhere" he replied.

"Can you change back?" Sally asked him, hope gleaming in her brown eyes.

"Yes"

"Will you?"

"No". Sally knew she should of expected it but she still felt as if she'd lost welled up in the back of her eyes. The Doctor asked, no begged was more like it, for her to come with him but she refused. It was simply too hard for her to look at him and imagine John looking back. The Doctor left, sadly, and found his companions waiting for him by the Tardis. Latimer was there to his surprise to say goodbye. The Doctor decided to gave the boy the watch as a sort of parting gift and the Tardis team ( as Jack had begun to call them, to the Doctor's despair) headed off. About seventy years later, on remembrance day, at a service, an older Timothy glanced up and smiled as he saw three very familiar faces stood there, listening.


	29. 1969, what fun!

**A/N : I wasn't going to update until next week or until I had at least five new reviews but I was bored so I decided to get this chapter up. However, I'm not updating again until I have at least Six or Seven new reviews because people are reading this but not reviewing and it's frustrating me. I wanna know what you think!!! honestly, even if you hate it, please some feedback would be nice :).**

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"Doctor, get out, I need to use the toilet!" Jack growled, banging his fists on the bathroom door. The Doctor had been in there for what seemed like hours to Jack, grooming himself no doubt. Jack hated living in the same house as the man, at least in the Tardis there were multiply bathrooms. Ever since they'd got trapped in nineteen bloody sixty nine, that man had hogged the bathroom, made Jack and Astrid do all the house work and get on his last nerve.

"Hold on a second Jack" the Doctor called back. Astrid looked at Jack with sympathy from the living room of the small flat the three of them shared. They couldn't afford much better but it was only temporary until they got the Tardis back. Astrid and Jack had gotten jobs, Jack as a mechanic and Astrid at a sweet shop. The Doctor stayed home of course, working on their way back through a young woman named Martha Jones and her boyfriend Tom. They'd recently found a guy called Billy in the streets, who'd met Martha when she'd gone to the police about strange happenings and he'd shown her the Tardis in the police car park but after she had left, he had, unfortunately, ran into one of the creepy angels and been transferred and trapped in 1969. The Doctor couldn't help him out since he needed him to get his ship back. Jack sighed with annoyance and relief as the Doctor finally vacated the bathroom. "Aw, that's better, stupid human wax takes forever to get my hair right"

"You took all that time in there to sort out your bloody hair?!" Jack demanded with disbelief.

"Well I can't go round with looking like a mess can I? Gotta keep up appearances Jack" he replied smoothly and had the nerve to wink at him. Jack glared at the alien before going into the bathroom and finally using the toilet and taking a shower. When Jack came out and got dressed, he walking into the living room and found the Doctor smirking.

"What's up with you?" Jack asked, sitting beside Astrid.

"The Tardis will be back soon" he explained."Martha should be fighting off the angels with her boyfriend at this moment in time if my calculations are correct and I usually am"

"Good because I'm really tired of the moon landing, it loses it's appeal after the first four times" Astrid sighed.

"Hey. Martha Jones was pretty hot if I remember correctly" Jack grinned.

(_FLASH BACK)_

_The Doctor, Jack and Astrid get out of a Taxi, there was chaos's occurring in the centre of London. As they got out a voice called out behind them."Doctor!, Doctor!, Doctor!" the Doctor spun around in surprise and saw a young black girl running towards him, carrying some sort of purple folder. _

_"Hello, sorry, bit of a rush, there's a sort of thing happening, fairly important, we stop it" the Doctor told her calmly but the girl looked slightly drastic._

_ "My god it's you, it's really you. Oh, you don't remember me do you?" the girl asked. The Doctor frowned in confusion._

_ "Doc, we don't have time for this, migration's started!" Jack snapped from behind him._

_ "Look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in order. Gets confusing, especially at weddings, I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own" he explained. _

_"Oh my god, of course your a time traveller!" the girl exclaimed in realisation. The Doctor looked surprise, out of all the things he expected her to say, THAT was not one of them._

_"It hasn't happened to you yet, none of it, it's still in your future!"_

_ "What hasn't happened?" the Doctor asked, bemused. _

_"It was me. Oh for god's sake, it was me all along! You got it all from me!" she cried._

_ "Got what?" the girl thrust the purple folder into his hands._

_ "Okay, listen. One day your going to get stuck in 1969. Make sure you have with you, you're going to need it" she smiled._

_ "Doctor!" Astrid yelled. He looked at the girl apologetically._

_ "Yeah listen, listen, got to dash, things happening, well four things. Four things and a lizard" he replied briskly and started to walk away. _

_"Okay, no worries, see you around someday" she said softly._

_ "What was your name?" the Doctor asked politely._

_ "Martha Jones" she grinned._

_ "Good to meet you Martha Jones" he beamed. _

_"Goodbye Doctor!" Martha said back before walking off towards her dumbstruck boyfriend._

_(END OF FLASHBACK)_

"She seemed nice" Astrid noted. Suddenly the room was filled with a familiar croaking sound and they all looked up to see the Tardis materialise on top of the coffee table.

"Oh perfect landing as usual" Jack remarked sarcastically. The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Well let's go, I don't want to be stuck here a second longer". The other two murmured in agreement and followed him into the ship where the Doctor instantly started leaping about the console panel, pressing down on random buttons. The Tardis rocked about as it usually did when they were moving and stopped when they'd arrived at their destination. Astrid grinned excitedly, relieved to be heading somewhere OTHER than 1969. Three months of it was quite enough for her, personally.

"So where are we?" she asked the Doctor.

"Cardiff" he replied.

"CARDIFF!" Jack barked with disbelief and Astrid's grin faded.

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Meanwhile, Rose was in her office when suddenly the hand in the jar started bubbling. It was him; he was finally here in Cardiff. Rose leapt up from her desk, grabbed the jar and shoved it in her backpack before she ran into the hub and towards the 'invisible' elevator. "Rose, where you going?" Gwen asked her, frowning. Rose flashed her a grin.

"The Doctor's here, I'm going to see him again"

"Oh the man you always talk about? Good luck, are we EVER going to see you again"? Tosh piped up.

"I don't know" she replied truthfully before the elevator took her upwards and out into the centre of Cardiff. She heard the noise and realised with dismay that the Tardis was leaving, she picked up her pace and began running. She had to get to him, she had to. She hadn't waited this long for nothing. Just as the ship began to disappear, she leapt and grabbed hold of the ship. She held on for dear life as it spun through the vortex."DOC-TOR!"she screamed.


	30. Reunions of sorts

**A/N : I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting, I've been busy and it's taken ages to write this chapter! I wanted to do it well and thank you for all the reviews on my last chapter!, I nearly died of surprise when I saw my inbox! lol. I was really only half kidding with my threat though, sort-of!, I wouldn't really of gone on a strike! (not a long one anyway!) but I do like hearing whether people are liking the story or not, it's now offically my longest!!!. Okay on with the story, please review afterwards :)**

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The three time travellers were stood around the console panel when suddenly the Tardis started going crazy. It started rocking about manically and sparks flew out of the console panel, Jack was thrown back while Astrid clung to a railing and the Doctor held on tightly to the panel, looking fairly alarmed. "When the bloody hell is going on?" Jack barked, rubbing his injured back.

"We're accelerating into the future." the Doctor said, staring at the console monitor, eyes wide. "The year one billion. Five billion, five trillion. Fifty trillion. What? The year one hundred trillion. That's impossible!" Astrid looked at him bemused.

"Why? What happens then?" she asked. The Doctor looked at her shocked.

"We're going to the end of the universe" he replied. Jack and Astrid exchanged glances as the Tardis finally came to a halt. "We've landed"

"So what's out there?" Astrid piped up.

"I don't know" he frowned.

"Say that again, that's rare. But let me get a video camera first" Jack smirked.

"Not even the timelord's came this far" he explained tonelessly."We should leave, we should go. We should, really, really, go". He, Jack and Astrid all stared at each other for a moment before breaking into grins and running out of the ship. Outside was dark and it was slightly cold but Jack and Astrid were wrapped up warmly and the Doctor's biology meant he wasn't bothered too much by temperature.

"Oh my god" Astrid exclaimed and tapped the Doctor on the arm before pointing to a body curled by on the floor. The Doctor frowned and the three of them walked over to the body, to get a good look. The Doctor's face paled dramatically as he recognised the woman that lay on the floor, dressed (unconventionally) in a tight pencil skirt, red blouse, black suit jacket and red high heels. Her long blonde mane was fanned out all over the floor and her eyes were closed. Astrid knelt down beside her and looked at the Doctor worriedly."Can't get a pulse. Hold on – you've got that medical kit thing" Astrid got up and ran into the Tardis, leaving the Doctor to stare at the woman in shock. Jack looked at the Doctor's expression and was slightly bemused. The Doctor seemed to recognise the beautiful woman lying on the floor.

"Rose" he whispered, shocked. Astrid ran back out and out and knelt down beside her again.

"It's a bit odd though really. End of the universe and she's dressed in what you'd wear for work in our century" Astrid pointed out.

"I like a girl who puts looks before comfort" Jack commented thoughtlessly and received sharp glares off both Astrid and the Doctor. Jack knew he should probably just keep his other comments to himself now.

"I think...I think...she came with us" the Doctor said, sounding as if he found it hard to believe.

"How do you mean?" Astrid asked.

"She must have been clinging to the outside of the Tardis" the Doctor replied. Before Astrid could say anything, the girls eyes shot open and she flung herself up and leapt to her feet and her attention was immediately drawn to the Doctor."Rose". To the Doctor's surprise and shock, Rose walked right up to him and slapped him across the face. Hard. "Ow, what did I do?"

"You didn't come back for me" Rose growled."You could have come back"

"I couldn't" he explained, gently."The timelines were too altered, it would have caused a paradox"

"Oh whatever, I don't care, I've bloody missed you" Rose said, her eyes filling up with tears to the Doctor's alarm. This wasn't the confident, flirty, Captain he remembered, oh well, she'd probably pop out again sooner or later. Her dress sense was very much the same (wearing the most inappropriate clothing as humanly possibly in her case).

"I missed you too" the Doctor replied, sincerely."How did you get back?"

"I used my time vortex manipulator to get back but unfortunately the power wasn't strong enough to bring me to the present time so I ended up in Cardiff 1906" she explained. The Doctor frowned.

"But-but-that would make you-"

"One hundred and twenty one years old and looking good on it, don't you think?" she winked.

"I certainly do" Jack piped up and Rose grinned as she caught him staring at her legs.

"Hi there, handsome, what's your name and how did you meet the Doctor?" And the Doctor finally got to see the Captain Rose Tyler he knew before she left.

"Jack Harkness and long story, my fiancé was trying to feed me to a spider on our wedding day" Jack replied. Astrid looked at him surprised.

"Really?" he nodded.

"And you are?" Rose turned her attention to Astrid.

"Astrid Peth, I met him at the hospital were I worked when it was taken to the moon"

"Damn, I knew you were there" Rose growled. "I'm Captain Rose Tyler by the way" she turned back to the Doctor."I spent a century waiting for you"

"I'm sorry" he sighed."If I had known-"

"I know, it's not really your fault, I don't blame you. And Donna wouldn't blame you either. What happened to her? I read her name on the list of the dead from the battle of Canary Wharf "Rose said serious. The Doctor looked at her wearily.

"She isn't dead, she's living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. Alone. Wilfred's really angry with me" Rose looked at him compassionately.

"I know it wasn't your fault" she smiled weakly. "So, how were things with me gone?"

"Not as exciting" the Doctor admitted."But I had Donna – she really wanted me to go back for you but I couldn't"

"We've already been through this and it wasn't your fault. Now shut up and let me kiss you" Rose said and before he could object, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her lips against his. He gently lifted her up off her feet and Astrid and Jack looked on in awe. It was like some sort of romantic movie (although after a while, Jack wanted to vomit).It finally came to an end five minutes later.

"So let's go check out our surroundings shall we?" the Doctor suggested and everyone murmured in agreement. They started walking and sometime during the walk, Rose and the Doctor got into a debate about her time vortex manipulator, which she still wore on her wrist, and the Doctor's Tardis. They stopped talking when they came to an edge of what appeared to be a canon. They looked down at some kind of city.

"Is that a city?" Jack asked. "

A city or a hive. Or a nest, or a conglomeration. Looks like it was grown, but look there, that's like pathways, roads" the Doctor explained, pointing at somewhere in the city.

"What killed it?"

"Time, just time. Everything's dying now, all the great civilizations have gone, this isn't just night, all the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing"

"It must have been a atmospheric shell, we should be frozen to death" Rose pointed out.

"Well, Jack, Astrid and I maybe, not so sure about you Rose" the Doctor looked at her knowingly. She stared back at him. _He knows something _Rose thought and decided to ask him about it when they had the time.

"What about people? Does no one survive?" Astrid asked.

"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way" the Doctor said simply.

"Well, he's not doing too bad" Jack pointed to what looked like a tribe, running along the pathways.

"Is it me or does that look like a hunt? Come on!" the Doctor exclaimed and the group began running to the people who were being chased by the tribe.

"I've missed this!" Rose grinned as she followed the Doctor and the other two. When they reached them, Rose grabbed hold of the scared man, who was gasping for breath from all that running."I've got you"

"We've got to run! They're coming! They're coming!" the man cried. Rose quickly pushed the man to the Doctor and pulled a gun from her jacket. The Doctor looked at her shocked.

"Rose, don't you dare!" Rose ignored him and fired it into the air. The tribe stopped in their tracks.

"What the hell are they?" Jack asked.

"There are more of them, we have to keep running" the man warned them and the Doctor attempted to lead them back to the Tardis, only to find they were surrounded. In the end, they ended up following the guy back to the silo. They found themselves standing outside a wired fence, with the tribe right behind them."It's the future kind let's us in!" the man said to the guys on the other side.

"Show me your teeth!" the guard ordered.

"Show them your teeth" the man ordered. They all started grinning as widely as they could before the gates opened and they were allowed through. The future kind attempted to get through but the guard aimed his gun at them.

"Oh don't tell him to put down his gun" Rose snapped, ticked off with the Doctor.

"He's not my responsibility" the Doctor replied.

"Oi, I'm one hundred and twenty one years old. I'm not a little girl!" Rose hissed. When they were led into what looked like a base, the Doctor informed somebody about the Tardis and they said they'd try to get retrieve for him while Astrid went to speak with a little blond boy for a while and found out he worked there.

"Sorry, how old are you?" Astrid asked, concerned.

"Old enough to work. This way" the boy replied and the group followed him down a hallway, where they past tons of people sat down wearing dirty clothes.

"It's like a refugee camp" Jack commented. As they walked, a very handsome man started to walk past and Rose quickly stopped him.

"Captain Rose Tyler, who are you?" she asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously and winking.

"Oi, enough of that give me a hand with this" the Doctor demanded (he was wrong about her being different afterall) and pulled Rose to his side, much to Astrid and Jack's amusement. He was clearly jealous."Here we go" the door, the Doctor was trying to unlock with his sonic screwdriver, came open and Rose quickly grabbed him before he plunged to his death. She liked this incarnation; she didn't want him changing on her just yet.

"I've got you" she said, pulling him back up.

"Thanks" he grunted.

"How did you ever survive without me?" Rose grinned.

"Now that's what I call a rocket" Jack said of the rocket on the other side of the door.

"They're not refugees, they're passengers" the Doctor told Astrid.

"He said they were going to Utopia" Astrid said, remembering her conversation she had with the little boy previously.

"The perfect place. One hundred trillion years, it's still the same old dream. Do you recognize those engines?" the Doctor looked at Rose.

"Nope, whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot though. A bit like your friend Jack" Rose winked at Jack.

"Hey, if you ever get bored of the Doctor, you know who to call" Jack remarked before receiving a hit over the back of his head. The Doctor was glaring at him."Sorry". The Doctor had always known it would be a bad idea to get Jack and Rose in the same room.

"Oh, that's so cute, are you jealous?" Rose smirked. The Doctor closed the door and before he could reply to Rose, an old man in a brown waistcoat came running up to them.

"The Doctor?" he asked Jack.

"That's me" the Doctor stated. The man immediately grabbed his hand and started dragging him away, to everyone's surprise.

"Good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good" the man chanted.

"It's good apparently" the Doctor said, looking back at the others, who began to follow them. A few minutes later, they all found themselves in a lab. The Doctor was stood next to the old man, who was showing him something.

"Chan-welcome-thou" the blue alien with a funny shape head, greeted Rose, Astrid and Jack.

"Hello, who are you?" Astrid inquired politely.

"Chan-Chantho-thou" the alien smiled sweetly.

"But we can't get it to harmonize!" the others suddenly heard the professor say to the Doctor.

"I'm Captain Rose Tyler" Rose grinned, shaking the alien's hand.

"Stop it" the Doctor growled.

"No need to be so possessive, you know it's you I love, Doc and besides I don't swing that way. Not with aliens either, no offense" Rose quickly said to Chantho.

"So what have we got here?" Jack and Astrid followed Rose, a weird sound suddenly coming from her handbag.

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah except without a stable footprint we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it" he replied."What do you think Doctor, any ideas?"

"Well, urm, basically, sort of, not a clue" the Doctor said regretfully.

"Nothing?" the professor sounded mildly disappointed.

"I'm not from around these parts, I've never seen a system like it, sorry" he apologised before a squeal all caught their attention.

"Oh my god!" Astrid exclaimed, pointing at a hand in a jar that was sitting on a small coffee table.

"You've got a hand! A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar, in your handbag!"Astrid looked at Rose slightly alarmed. Rose narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously.

"What are you doing going through my handbag?" she snapped.

"I didn't" Astrid blushed.

"That-that's my hand!" the Doctor gaped, staring from Rose to the hand. She smiled at him weakiy.

"I had to have some way of detecting you, didn't I?"

"Chan – is this a tradition amongst your people – thou?" Chantho asked.

"Not on my street!" Jack growled."What do you mean that's your hand? You have both of your hands, we can see them!"

"Long story, he lost his hand Christmas day, in a swordfight" Rose explained.

"How did you get it?" the Doctor frowned. "You were with me and Donna that day"

"Oh well obviously I came down from Cardiff in time for the fight and when your hand dropped down from the sky, I took it" Rose explained as if this was a normal thing to do.

"And what, he grew another hand?" Astrid said with disbelief.

"Yeah, yeah I did. Hello!" the Doctor grinned, waving his fingers at them.

"Might I ask what species are you?" the old man inquired.

"Time lord. Last of." The man simply blinked at the Doctor, to the Doctor's surprise."Heard of them? Legend or anything? Not even a myth? Blimey end of the universe is a bit humbling" Rose sniggered from beside him and dropped herself down on his lap. Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise but didn't say anything. Astrid merely looked taken back, they weren't used to seeing him like that with a female. The two strangers obviously noticed nothing unusual about the interaction though as they carried on.

"Chan – it is said I am the last of my species too - thou" Chantho smiled.

"What was your name?" the Doctor asked.

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho, survivor of the malmooth. This was there planet Malcassario before we took refuge" the old professor told him.

"The city outside that was yours?"

"Chan – the conglomeration died – thou" Chantho said sadly.

"Conglomeration that's what I said!" the Doctor exclaimed, receiving a gentle hit in the arm off Rose.

"You're suppose' to say sorry" she hissed softly.

"Oh yes sorry" he said sheepishly.

"Chan – most grateful – thou" Chantho replied.

"You grew another hand?" Jack stared at the Doctor's hand in the jar.

"Hello again" the Doctor smiled, waving his fingers about.

"All this time and he's still full of surprises" Astrid murmured.

"Chan – you are most unusual – thou" Chantho stated.

"Well..." the Doctor trailed off, lost in thought.

"So what are those things outside, the beastie boys? What are they?" Rose asked.

"We call them the futurekind. Which is a myth in itself but it is feared that is what we will become unless we reach Utopia" the professor sighed.

"And Utopia is..." the Doctor said, bemused. The professor looked at him surprised.

"Oh every human knows of Utopia, where have you been?"

"Bit of a hermit" the Doctor replied.

"A hermit with friends?" the professor raised an eyebrow.

"Hermits united. We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves, good fun, for a hermit. So, um, Utopia?" the Doctor asked quickly changing subject and the professor led him to a computer and started talking about a call coming from utopia. The Doctor asked him what he thought was out there and he suggested colonies or a haven but whatever it is, if it meant their survival, then it was worth a look, he thought. The Doctor agreed with him."Oh yes" he confirmed."And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic, that's a good sign. Someone's out there, And that's ooh, that's a navigation matrix isn't it? So you can fly without starts to guide you" the Doctor stopped when he realised something was wrong with the professor. The old man was staring into space, in some sort of daze."Professor?" the old man suddenly snapped out of it.

"I-right that's enough talk. There's work to do, if you could leave, thank you" he said walking away.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked, concerned.

"Yes I'm fine and busy!" he snapped.

"Except that rocket's not going to fly is it? This footprint mechanism thing it's not working" the Doctor told him.

"We'll find a way" the professor insisted.

"You're stuck on this planet and you haven't told them yet, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly" the Doctor continued.

"Well it's better to let them live in hope" the professor replied, sounding defeated.

"Quite right too and I must say, professor...what was it?" the Doctor frowned.

"Yana" the professor said tonelessly.

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me but all the same, a boost reversal circuit in any time frame must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So I wonder what would happen if I did this?" the Doctor picked up for a circuit and used his sonic screwdriver on it before switching it on and giving them power.

"Chan – its working – thou!" Chantho exclaimed in astonishment.

"But how did you do that?" Yana asked, completely taken back.

"Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you, I'm brilliant" the Doctor smirked.

"And modest" Rose piped up, receiving a glare off the Doctor. A few minutes later after sending Astrid and Chantho to get some circuit boards, the professor and the Doctor were talking and working away in one corner of the lab.

"You've built this system out of food and string and staples. Professor Yana, your a genius!" the Doctor praised with awe when he realised what the circuit board was made out of.

"Says the man who made it work" Yana smiled.

"Oh it's easy coming in at the end but you're stellar. This is, this is magnificent. I don't often say that, well because, cause of me" the Doctor told him and Rose, who overheard the last bit, rolled her eyes.

"Well, even my title is affectation. There hasn't been any such thing as a university for thousands of years and I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another" Yana sighed.

"If you had been born in a different time, you would have been revered" the Doctor stated, causing Yana to chuckle lightly."I mean it, throughout the galaxies"

"Oh those damned galaxies. They had to go and collapse. Some admiration would have been nice, just a little, just once"

"Well you've got it now" the Doctor assured him."But that footprint engine thing. You can't activate it from onboard, it's got to be from here, your staying behind"

"With Chantho. She won't leave without me, she just absolutely refuses" Yana smiled when he mentioned his alien friend.

"You would give your life so they could fly" the Doctor said in admiration.

"Oh I'm a little old for Utopia. Time I had some sleep" he replied gently.

"Professor tell the Doctor we've found his blue box" a voice said and they saw the man, the Doctor was talking to earlier, stood in the room.

"Ah" the Doctor grinned happily.

"Doctor" Rose called out and the Doctor and Yana joined Rose, Astrid and Jack at the monitor which showed the Tardis kept away safely in another room.

"Professor, it may be a stab in the dark but I may just have found you a way out" the Doctor told him but the old man just looked confused.

"Oh am I glad to see that thing" Astrid breathed with relief. Suddenly Yana sat down and Chantho immediately went to check if he was alright and he insisted he was.

"Connect those circuits into the spar- the same as the last lot but quicker" Rose commanded. Jack mock saluted.

"Yes m'am" he grunted.

"You don't have to keep working, we can handle it" the Doctor said to Yana, softly.

"It's just a headache, just-just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head"

"What sort of noise?" the Doctor frowned.

"It's the sound of drums, more and more as though it's getting closer" Yana replied.

"When did it start?"

"Oh I've had it all my life" he sighed."Every waking hour. No rest for the wicked" suddenly someone called Yana from the other room and Yana announced it was ready. Everyone rushed around the room setting things up or just doing something. Yana ordered Rose to keep the levels down in the control room where one of the men had gone in, in a space suit.

"Where is that room?" the Doctor asked Yana.

"It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation"

"Stet? I've never heard of it" the Doctor said, confused.

"You wouldn't want to but it's safe enough. We can hold the radiation back from here" he explained before they turned back to the monitor snd watched the man start to fix the couplings.

"Chan – we're losing power – thou!" Chantho cried, alarmed.

"The radiation's rising!" the Doctor yelled.

"We've lost control" Rose announced.

"The chambers going to flood" Yana said, panicking.

"We can jump start the override!" Rose said suddenly and grabbed hold of two live cables to everybody's alarm.

"Don't! It's going to flare!" the Doctor shouted but it was too late and Rose screamed in agony as electricity shot through her body. They watched helplessly as her body fell to the ground.

"I've got her!" Jack said as he gathered Rose into his arms.

"Oh I'm so sorry" Yana said sadly to the Doctor, who looked unperturbed by Rose's limp form.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation yes?" he asked a bemused Yana.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start, it was all for nothing!" Yana said, dismayed.

"Oh I don't know" then the Doctor caught Jack trying to give HIS girlfriend mouth-to-mouth."Oi, Jack leave her!"

"i've got to try!" Jack insisted and proceeded to smack his lips against Rose.

"Harkness get off her!" the Doctor growled."Astrid's the medical expert anyway remember?" Jack blushed and moved away. The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It strikes me professor, you've got a room where nobody can enter without dying, is that correct?"

"Yes" Yana confirmed.

"Well I've got just the person". As soon as the Doctor said that, Rose startled everybody by suddenly sitting up.

"Was someone kissing me?" she asked, bewildered before the Doctor led her down to the control room where she was going to go in and fix the couplings. It became obvious to her now that the Doctor had realised her secret. They got there and saw the lieutenant waiting there.

"Lieutenant get onboard the rocket, I promise you're going to fly" the Doctor said and the man paused before walking away.

"But the chambers flooded with radiation?!"

"Trust me, we've found a way of tripping the system. Run!" the lieutenant nodded and walked away, leaving the Doctor alone with Rose, who the Doctor had suddenly realised was stripping off her jacket and had now taken off her blouse, leaving her topless in just her black lacy bra. The Doctor barely managed to tear his eyes away.

"Wh-What are you taking your clothes off for?" the Doctor asked before she could stripped anything else off.

"I'm going in" she explained.

"Well by the looks of, I'd say the stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh"

"I look good though" she grinned and stopped at the door."How long have you known?"

"Since we found you outside the Tardis" the Doctor replied briskly before she walked into the control room and shut the door. The Doctor stood near the window and watched Rose get to work while Astrid and Jack talked to him through the intercom. Jack asked the Doctor if Rose was okay, which she was and Astrid let slip to Yana that the Doctor travelled in time. When someone started speaking, Yana seemed to cut himself off from everyone and stared right at the Tardis. "When did you first realise ?" the Doctor asked Rose about her 'immortality'.

"Earth, 1920, I was shot in the chest. I woke up and found that I was 'miraculously' healed. I knew something was wrong but then it never stopped. World war one, World war two, starvation, poisoned and then knifed to death by a gang of teenagers in the nineties. Remind me never to have kids, I hate teenagers" Rose scowled at the memory.

"It's why the Tardis left you behind. It thinks you're wrong and you are in a way" he replied.

"Gee, thanks" Rose spat sarcastically.

"You are, I can't help it. You're a fixed point in time and space, you're a fact. That's never suppose to happen, I mean, the Tardis went all the way to the end of the universe in an attempt to get rid of you"

"So what your saying is your ship's prejudice?" Rose said as she fixed the third coupling.

"I never thought of it like that" the Doctor mused.

"The last thing I remember though, back when I was mortal...I was facing three Daleks, death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?" Rose asked and the Doctor could tell knowing the answer meant a lot to her.

"Donna" the Doctor replied plainly.

"Didn't you send her back home?" Rose frowned.

"She came back, opened the heart of the Tardis and absorbed the time vortex" the Doctor sighed.

"And what does that mean exactly?" Rose wanted to know.

"No one's ever meant to have that power and if a time lord did that, he'd become a god, a vengeful god but she was human. Everything she did was so human" Rose grinned in agreement."She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it, she brought you back forever. Although I guess that's something I suppose, the final act of the time war was life" he broke off and Rose could see his eyes glistening with tears from where she was standing. Clearly he missed Donna very much, she knew that she'd been missing both of them for a century but she was used to it. For him it had only happened about a year ago. She sympathized with him, Donna had sort of been like his sister, she'd taken good care of him. Rose gulped back her own tears, not for herself but for everything the Doctor must have gone through. She wondered how poor Wilfred was without his granddaughter.

"Anyway, if Donna was here, do you think she could change me back?" Rose asked.

"I took the power out of her, remember? It's irreversiable now, sorry" he replied before staring at Rose intensely."Rose, do you WANT to die?" Rose quickly attempted to change subject but it didn't work because he said her name in a stern voice.

"At first I thought I did, I don't know but this lot, you see them out here surviving and it's fantastic" she smiled. The Doctor smiled back. Meanwhile, Astrid and Jack noticed something was slightly wrong with professor Yana. So did Chantho since she asked what was wrong.

"Time say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed but what would I know? I'm just a stupid old man, never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked" Yana told them and pulled out an old fashioned pocket watch that looked very familiar to Jack and Astrid. They exchanged looks of alarm."Time and Time again, always running out on me"

"You don't mind if I have a look at that do you?" Jack asked and the professor handed it to him.

"Oh it's only an old relic. Like me" he chuckled softly. Astrid's eyes widened at the watch.

"Where did you get it though?"she breathed. If this was what they thought it was then that meant...

"Hm? I was found with it" Yana replied casually.

"What do you mean?" Jack looked at him intensely. There was a good chance that professor Yana wasn't really professor Yana, he needed to find out for sure though.

"An orphan in the storm, I was a naked child found on the coast of the silver devastation, abandoned only with this" he explained.

"Have you opened it?" Astrid whispered.

"Why would I? It's broken" Yana frowned.

"How would you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" Jack pointed out, confused.

"It's stuck, it's old, it's not meant to be, oh I don't know" Yana mumbled."Does it matter?" Jack turned the watch over in his hands and paled when he saw the markings. They were the exact same as the Doctor's. He glanced at Astrid, nervously.

"No, no, it's, err, nothing. It's ...listen, everything's fine up here, me and Astrid are going to check if the Doctor needs us" Jack nudged Astrid and the pair raced downstairs while Rose exited the control room, redoing her blouse and jacket and the Doctor spoke through the intercom.

"Lieutenant, everyone on board?" he asked.

"Ready and waiting" the lieutenant replied.

"Stand by! Two minutes to ignition" the Doctor replied before hanging up.

"Ah nearly there," the Doctor spoke as he and Rose moved to the controls."The footprint is a gravity pulse, it stamps down, the rocket shoots up. A bit primitive, it's going to take both of us to keep it stable". At that moment, Jack and Astrid came speeding down the corridor.

"Doctor! It's the professor, He's got this watch, it's a fob watch, it's the same watch as yours, same writing on it, same everything" Jack panted.

"Don't be ridiculous" the Doctor scoffed. Jack simply glared at him.

"We asked him, he said he's had it he's whole life" Astrid explained.

"So what if he has the same watch?" Rose said with amusement.

"Yeah but it's not this watch, it's a chameleon thing" Jack tried to explain feebly.

"No, no, no, it's this...this thing, this device, it rewrites biology, changes a time lord into a human" the Doctor said, his explanation a lot smoother and accurate than Jack's. Rose's eyes widened dramatically.

"And it's the same watch" Astrid added.

"It can't be" the Doctor whispered before an alarm suddenly starting going off. The Doctor instantly started to try and fix it.

"This means he could be a time lord, you might not be the last one" Rose beamed as she turned some buttons on the controls on her side of the room.

"Rose keep it level" the Doctor ordered.

"But that's brilliant isn't it?" Astrid asked.

"Of course it is, depends which one but they all died, the time lords, they died"

"Not if he was human" Rose reminded him.

"Jack, Astrid, what did he say?" Astrid gulped as the Doctor towered over her."What did he say?!" he yelled.

"Oi, Doctor, you're scaring her" Rose growled and he moved back, blushing slightly.

"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it, like that perception filter" Jack told him.

"And now? Can he see it now?" the Doctor asked the two of them, intensely.

"If he escaped the time war, the end of the universe would be a perfect place to hide" Rose piped up.

"Wait; remember the face of Boe's dying words?" Astrid pointed out.

"Yana" the Doctor gasped and suddenly it hit him. Yana was an anagram. Y – you, A – are, N – not, A – alone. A bright light erupted from the lab and the Doctor realised what was happening. Before he did anything else though, the Doctor quickly turned on the intercom. "Lieutenant? Have you done it?"

"Affirmative, we'll see you in Utopia" the lieutenant confirmed.

"Good luck" the Doctor said before hanging up again and running out of the room, Jack, Rose and Astrid following on behind. But they soon found themselves being chased by the futurekind and when they got to the lab doors, where the Tardis and the professor was, the doors were locked to their alarm. "Professor, Professor, let me in! Let me in! Rose get the door open!" Rose began working on getting the door open as the Doctor continued to yell."Professor, Professor, where are you? Professor, Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain, whatever you do, don't open that watch!"

"They're coming!" Astrid shrieked.

"Open the door please! Professor, please listen to me, open the door!" the Doctor yelled and Rose finally managed to get them opened just as the futurekind came heading their way. Jack, Astrid and Rose held the doors shut but when they got, the Doctor realised the professor had gone inside the Tardis and locked it. He began pounding on the doors. "Let me in! Let me in!"

"Chantho's dead!" Astrid said checking Chantho's pulse.

"The locks broke, give us a hand!" Jack hissed and Astrid ran back to their side.

"I'm begging you! Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left, let me in!" the Doctor screamed.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" a younger voice laughed evily from speakers that were inside the Doctor's ship. Everyone apart from the Doctor and Rose, who knew that the professor had regenerated, frowned with confusion."Doctor – ooh new voice! – Hello, hello, hello! , anyway, why don't we have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I don't think!"

"Hold on I know that voice!" Astrid exclaimed with surprise.

"I'm asking you really properly, just stop! Just think!" the Doctor pleaded, panicking.

"Use my name" the voice said coldly.

"Master. I'm sorry" the Doctor replied quietly.

"Tough!" the Master barked and started up the controls inside the ship.

"I can't hold on much longer!" Rose yelled. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, aimed it at the Tardis and sparks flew out of the console panel.

"Oh no you don't!. End of the universe. Have fun, goodbye!" the master chirped merrily.

" Doctor, stop him!" Astrid screamed with alarm but there was nothing they could do. The group watched helplessly as the Tardis dematerialised away.


	31. Take Over

**A/N : Hello, it's been a bit of a wait hasn't it? well I have written about five notices about the slowness of the updating of this story on my profile so don't say I haven't warned you. The next chapter will probably take a dozen years for me to write so I apolgize prematurely for that!. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, I've tried to make it as great as possilbe but I've probably fallen flat. Sorry for the plot error last chapter, I'll go back and edit it at some point when I get the chance and remember. Please, please, please take the time to review. It would be nice knowing if this chapter sucked or not :) . _Jess_**

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After realising there was no Tardis to get them back to Earth, present time, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to fix Rose's vortex manipulator and it transported the four of them back to Earth, unfortunately it wasn't exactly a comfortable ride home and the four of them reappeared gasping and spluttering for breath, rubbing their sore arms and legs and backs. "My head!" Astrid moaned.

"Time travel without a capsule, that's a killer!" the Doctor spat. Rose cracked her aching neck and the four began to walk along down a busy London Street.

"Well at least we made it, 21st century Earth by the looks of it, that's lucky" Rose said brightly.

"That wasn't luck that was me" the Doctor said tonelessly as the four of them took a seat on a bench in the middle of the busy centre, while in front of them a giant screen showed the news.

"Still the moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with a ex-time agent and her vortex manipulator" she replied.

"He's got the Tardis, Doctor, he can go wherever he likes in time and space" Jack pointed out grimly.

"Oh well, you still have me" Rose smiled.

"No, he's here" the Doctor contradicted."Trust me" . The Doctor looked around only to see campaign posters all over the place and people all around tapping out a strange drum beat.

"Who is he anyway? That voice at the end wasn't the professor" Astrid asked.

"If the Master's a timelord, he must have regenerated like the Doctor did" Rose answered.

"What's that?" Jack frowned.

"He's changed everything about him, voice, face, body– he's a new man" the Doctor explained.

"How do we find him Doctor if we don't know who he is?" Rose asked.

"I'll know him the moment I-"the Doctor was cut off by the sound of the newscaster's voice coming from the giant screen. It showed an image of an inside of a building with red carpeted stairs. Coming down the stairs was a sandy haired man linked with a blonde haired woman in a black suit and pearl earrings and necklace.

"Mr Saxon has returned from the palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon headquarters" the newscaster stated. The Doctor's face was pale with shock, Rose's eyes were wide, Astrid looked stunned and Jack looked alarmed.

"I told you I knew that voice!" Astrid exclaimed.

"That's him!" the Doctor whispered."The Master's prime minister of great Britain" the sandy haired man known to the humans of Britain as Mr. Saxon but to the Doctor and his small group of friends as the Master, leant down and kissed the blonde haired woman passionately."The Master and his _wife_"

"This country has been sick" the Master said coming towards the cameras."This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact I'd go as far as to say what this country really needs right now is a Doctor". The Master flashed a grin at the camera, making Rose and Astrid want to vomit and Jack want to smash the Master's smug face to pieces.

"I can't believe it, he's obviously trying to make a dig at you" Jack growled as they began walking down the street. The group had decided to go to Astrid's place so she could change and lend Rose some of her clothes because the suit and shoes she was wearing weren't really appropriate if they were going to confront the Master. They eventually arrived and the Doctor and Jack sat in Astrid's living room as the girls went off into her bedroom to change. Astrid came out first in light blue jeans, a purple blouse with pink flowers printed on it and trainers. Her blonde hair was in a loose bun and she wore funky dangly earrings.

"What have you got Astrid?" the Doctor asked her as she walked into her kitchen to make them cups of coffee (in Jack's case) and tea (for everybody else)."Computer, laptop anything?" before Astrid could answer, Rose walked out of the bedroom dressed in tight black jeans with jewels on the edges of the pockets and a grey vest top with three buttons going down from the top. She'd left them open and her black lace bra was slightly visible underneath it. Her blonde hair was in a high pony tail and she wore gold hoops and grey, sparkly flats. She sat down next to the Doctor (who was staring at the opened bit of her top along with Jack) and began punching in a number on her mobile. This snapped the Doctor back to reality."Rose, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!"

"Just some friends of mine but there's no reply..." Rose said, her brow furrowed with worry. She secretly hoped her team were alright. She pulled out her lap top from her handbag (it was a big, fashionably oversized one so she could fit surprisingly a lot in it). When it was powered up she opened the internet up and began searching for everything she could find on the new prime minister "Doctor, look at this. Here are some Saxon websites; he's been around for ages". The Doctor took the laptop from Rose and had a look.

"That's so weird though. The day after the election. That's only four days after I met you" Astrid breathed with shock.

"We went flying around the universe the whole time he was here" the Doctor murmured.

"Who is he?" Jack asked.

"He's a timelord, that's all you need to know. Now let's have a look at Harold Saxon" the Doctor said briskly changing subject and played a video on the Saxon site which showed messages from his loyal supporters including McFly and Sharon Osbourne of all people.

"Former minister of defence" Rose said, reading Saxon's bio from the website. "first came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve" at this Rose flashed the Doctor a smile."Nice work by the way"

"Oh thanks" he smiled back.

"He goes back years" she continued."He's famous. Everyone knows his story, look Cambridge University. Rugby blue, won the athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's a got a whole life"

"He's a got a Tardis. Maybe the Master has been living here for decades" Jack suggested.

"No" the Doctor replied coolly."When he was stealing the Tardis, the only thing I could do was fuse the co-ordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel from the year one hundred trillion, to the last place the Tardis landed which was right here, right now"

"Yeah but a little leeway?" Astrid asked.

"Well...eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here for was eighteen months, so how has he managed all this?" the Doctor's brows furrowed with bemusement."The Master was always sort of....hypnotic but this is on a massive scale"

"I was going to vote for him" Astrid declared, causing everybody to look at her.

"Really, what for?"

"Well it was before I met you" she replied, blushing under everyone's scrutiny.

"Me too" Rose piped in. Now the Doctor turned and looked at her."What how was I suppose to know he was a supposedly long since dead time lord with slight psychotic tendencies"

"Not it's not that" the Doctor shook his head."I just wonder...what did he say? what was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I don't know he always sounded good" Astrid explained in a suddenly dreamy voice. She started absent mindly tapping her fingers on the coffee table."Like you could trust him, Just nice. He spoke about...I can't actually remember but it was good, just the sound of his voice".

"Sounds like someone has a crush" Rose remarked receiving a suprisingly nasty glare off Astrid which alarmed Rose.

. "Wait a minute – what was that?" the Doctor asked Astrid sharply. She looked at him confused.

"What?"

"That! That tapping! That rhyme, what were you doing?"

"I don't know, it's nothing, its-"suddenly the laptop started playing a tune from its website, stating that Saxon was broadcasting on all channels at that very moment. The Doctor forgot to question Astrid further and quickly turned her TV on, where, sure enough, they saw 'Harold Saxon' a.k.a the Master, sat behind a desk, a smug expression on his thirty-something year old face. Then he spoke, his voice creepy enough to send shivers down even Jack and Rose's spines.

"Britain, Britain, Britain. What extraordinary times we've had, just a few years ago this world was SO small and then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies"

"Could he be anymore cryptic?" Rose murmured, raising an eyebrow."What the hells he going on about anyway?"

"Well we'll find out if you shut up long enough" Astrid hissed. "Stupid girl" Rose was momentarily taken back by Astrid's sudden change in behaviour towards her. The Doctor was a bit puzzled and Jack was slightly confused but neither commented on it. They wrote it off as a woman thing.

"You've seen it happen" the Master continued."Big Ben destroyed, a spaceship over London" while he spoke, the TV showed clips in the corner of the screen of footage of things that happened to the Doctor (and at some point Rose and Jack) in the past."All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill – Time and time again, the government told you nothing. Well not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this – citizens of Great Britain. I have been contacted". Jack and Rose's eyes grew wide and their jaws dropped, the Doctor looked stunned and Rose glanced at Astrid – the medical student was expressionless, although when Rose looked more closely, there was a small twinkle of a amusement dancing in her cold purple eyes. Wait _purple _eyes? Astrid's normal eye colour was brown – she'd seen it earlier and besides she wasn't dumb – no normal person had purple eyes, unless they had contacts but Astrid didn't wear glasses.

"Doctor – something's wrong with Astrid" Rose whispered in a very quiet voice so she didn't catch Astrid's attention. The Doctor frowned but when he looked at Astrid – her eyes were chocolate brown and she was looking as stunned as Jack. Rose narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"She seems alright to me, other than her sudden hostile behaviour to you Rose. You probably said something back when you were both changing in the bedrooms" the Doctor shrugged. Rose stared at him with disbelief.

"You don't believe me?" she asked, feeling more hurt than she knew she should.

"Well I'm just saying – Astrid's a good person – I've known her longer than you and maybe, maybe, perhaps there's a very slight chance, your, well, jealous. After all she's been travelling with me for the past year and she's certainly good-"The Doctor didn't get to finish what he was saying before Rose's hand met his cheek.

"Okay whatever the hells going on with you two could you hush up and save your relationship troubles for later so we can hear what the guys saying?" Jack growled annoyed and bewildered. There was something wrong with everyone in this room- they were all acting bizarrely to Jack. First there was Astrid, then Rose and lastly the Doctor, who was still rubbing his sore red cheek, looking disgruntled.

"Your right Jack" Rose smiled sweetly before hissing into the Doctor's ear "Don't flatter yourself, if Donna was here she'd slap you too and I thought you trusted me anyway". The Doctor felt guilty at the stung look in Rose's hazel eyes before turning back to the TV, where the hairs on the back of everyone's necks (apart from Astrid), stood up from the shock of seeing a sphere like thing appear on the TV.

"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring wisdom, Technology and protection. All we ask is for your friendship" the sphere hummed in a clearly female voice.

"Ooh, sweet" the Master smiled sleazily."And this species has identified itself. They are called the toclafane"

"The what?" the Doctor exclaimed with shook. Rose shot Astrid a suspicious glare at the small smirk that was starting to spread on her face. She wondered what had happened to her – maybe the Master had managed to take over her mind or something – after all she was the one who had been supporting that weirdo for the last year while Rose had always known there was something up with him. Yes, she was going to vote him, but only because he was slightly (not much though) better than bloody Harriet Jones. Rose turned her attention back to the TV where the Master was speaking again, in a very irritating patronising tone.

"And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we will take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every, oh, I don't know...Doctor?" at that Rose, Jack and the Doctor all exchanged alarmed glances and jumped to their feet. Just as they did, Astrid nabbed Rose's gun out of her handbag that lay beside the coffee table and pointed it at them.

"Hate to say I told you so" Rose said tonelessly to the Doctor, who was looking shocked at Astrid.

"Astrid, what's happened to you?" he asked softly. Her eyes were now flashing purple again. Jack and Rose both took one look at the Doctor and knew he'd probably guessed the answer already.

"The Master can offer me things none of you pathetic little apes ever could" she sneered.

"Pathetic little apes?" Jack exclaimed with disbelief."Your one of us!"

"The Master's taken control of her mind somehow. I think it started when she began being rude to Rose" the Doctor said grimly."Sorry Rose for not believing you, I'll admit I was an idoit"

"It's fine" Rose sighed wearily.."Just trust me next time alright?. How did the Master take Astrid's mind by the way?"

"I have no idea yet – but...." the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the gun which promptly exploded. Astrid growled and to everyone's alarm, grabbed one very large kitchen knife. She headed towards the Doctor but before she could do anything Rose stepped in the way and allowed the blade to cut deeply through her stomach. The Doctor (even though he knew she wouldn't be affected much) was suddenly furious and did what he didn't want to do – he knocked Astrid unconscious by pointing his sonic screwdriver in her direction. The screwdriver sent out powerful waves of energy that resulted in Astrid collapsing in a heap on her living room floor. "Come on, we need to get out of here before she wakes up!" the Doctor ordered, scooping up Rose into his arms and carrying her out, followed by Jack.

On their way out of Astrid's apartment, the Doctor had gone to the trouble of grabbing Rose's bag and Astrid's car keys. Jack seemed to know what the Doctor was thinking, since he grabbed the keys from him, opened up the car, which Astrid had informed them was hers earlier when they'd arrived at her flat and the Doctor lay Rose across the back seats, placing her head on his lap, while Jack, being the only one who could drive, took the driver's seat and they speeded off down the road. When they came to a bridge (and Rose had now recovered), the three decided to abandon the car since it was most likely the Master would be able to sort through Astrid's memories and recognise the car they were in. They walked down the streets when Rose's mobile rang. "Hello?" she frowned. There was no ID of the number so she knew it wasn't any of her torchwood team. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be one of her friends even so she was taken back by how the person had got her number when he began to speak.

"Hello Captain Rose Tyler" the Master chuckled softly down the line."Running away with lover-boy and his companion? I don't think that will last very long – I will find you Rose Tyler, that's a promise" Rose shuddered and was thankful the new prime minister couldn't see her. She didn't usually get scared but there was something very sinister about this guy.

"Let Astrid go you monster" Rose hissed, only making the loon laugh harder. The Doctor realised who she was talking to and gently took the phone from her.

"I'm here" he said tonelessly. The Doctor couldn't see it but he knew his former friend was smirking.

"Doctor" the Master whispered.

"Master" the Doctor replied.

"I like it when you use my name"

"You chose it. Physiatrist's field day" he retorted calmly.

"And you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?" the Master commented brightly before he coerced the Doctor into a conversation about what about to the timelords and the timewar. The Doctor wasn't at all surprised at hearing the Master's reaction to Gallifrey's demise. If he was in his position, he wouldn't have been happy either although he never would have been in his position; he didn't have his reckless psychotic personality. "What did it feel like though?" the Master asked, sounding, oddly enough, as if he was having an orgasim at the sound of his own voice."Two almighty civilizations burning, oh tell me, how did it feel?"

"Stop it" growled the Doctor starting to get angry.

"You must have been like God" the Master said almost with awe.

"I've been alone ever since" the Doctor told him, sadly."But not anymore, don't you see? All we have is each other!"

"Are you asking me out on a date?" the Master said sarcastically.

"You could stop this right now" the Doctor begged."We could leave this planet, we could fight across constellations if that's want you want but not on Earth"

"Too late" the Master replied coldly.

"I could help you, please let me help!"

"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen, here come the drums. Here come the drums" the Master hissed. The Doctor looked around and saw a man drumming out a similar drum beat against his legs.

"What have you done? Tell me how've you done this? What are those creatures? What have you done with Astrid's mind? Tell me!" the Doctor screamed, causing Jack and Rose to look at the Doctor and each other with slight alarm.

"You're on TV" the Master said lazily. The Doctor turned around and saw the news flashing in the TV shop. Rose and Jack were right by his side watching it too. The news reporter was talking while pictures of the Doctor, Rose and Jack appeared on the screen."You are public enemies one, two and three. Oh and you can tell gorgeous Rose that I've sent her little gang off on a wild goose chase in the Himalayas so she won't be getting any help from them. Now go on off you go, why not start by turning to the right?". The Doctor did just that and realised there was a CCTV camera staring down at them.

"He can see us" the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to destroy it before hanging up on the Master. "Let's go!" the Doctor, Rose and Jack began running as fast as they could away from there. Eventually they ended up in an abandoned warehouse and Jack had just entered after stopping at the nearest chippy and buying them all a box of chips each.

"How was it?" Rose asked him, kindly.

"No one saw me, anything new?" he replied, sitting beside Rose, who had the laptop out on her knee. The Doctor took his box of chips and began eating. Rose joined in a minute later.

"I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing"

"Alright so what about this guy? Who is he? How come the ancient society of timelords created a psychopath?" Jack inquired as he munched on a mouthful of chips and the Doctor, for the first time Rose had ever seen, launched into a speech about Gallifrey that was more than a grunt or a vague sentence. He described it's beauty and Rose wished badly that it hadn't been destroyed so she could have seen it – and then he ended it with an explanation of what they did to timelords at the young age of eight by making them look into the time vortex, sending them either insane , running off in the opposite direction or simply mesmerised by it all. The Master was obviously the first one, Rose decided. Suddenly Rose's manipulator started beeping, catching everyone's attention.

"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it" she stated.

"Patch it through to the laptop" the Doctor suggested. Rose looked at him uncertainly, holding the laptop lid half down.

"Um, since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you" the Doctor and Jack glanced at her. They watched as she lifted up the screen of the laptop, revealing the torchwood logo. The Doctor's expression hardened.

"You work for torchwood?" he asked coldly.

"I swear to you, it's different, it's changed, there's only half a dozen of us now" Rose explained gently but the Doctor was still looking at her as if she was the enemy which annoyed her endlessly.

"Everything torchwood did and your a part of it?"

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it. I changed it. When I did it, I did it for you" Rose's tone had a pleading note to it and the Doctor decided to let it go for now. He did trust Rose, he had no reason not to so why did he feel the need to interrogate her?. They all turned to face the laptop. A middle aged torchwood employee appeared informing them that she'd attached Saxon files with the message and if they looked at the archangel network they'd realise that's when it all started.

"What the hells an archangel network?" the Doctor exclaimed with bemusement.

"I've got archangel everyone's got it. It's a mobile phone network, it's gone worldwide. They have fifteen satellites in orbit, even the other networks, they're all carried by archangel" Jack explained.

"It's in the phones!" the Doctor realised with a start, making Rose and Jack jump a little."Oh I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait hold on" the Doctor grabbed Jack's phone and listened to it as it played the annoying rhythm that everyone seemed to be tapping about."There it is. That rhythm it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious. Through that he's somehow managed to take control of Astrid's mind"

"Is it mind control? Jack asked worriedly.

"No, no, no, no. Subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code… Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. 'Cause I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out" the Doctor explained.

"Anyway to stop it?"

"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it-"

"And we can fight back!" Jack finished happily.

"Oh yes!" the Doctor smirked before taking the groups Tardis keys and reessembling them so they would go around their necks as chains. Rose wondered what he had done and how this was suppose to help their situation but then he started explaining about perception filters and she understood immediately. They would use them to deceive the Master. The group finished their chips in companionable silence (which was a surprise because the Doctor never usually managed to stayed shut up for long). Shortly after they made their way out of the warehouse and stood in a car park staring at the Master, who was meeting up with the president of the United States. Beside him was his wife Lucy. The Master had one arm wrapped protectively around her while he talked to the president. It didn't seem to be going well judging from the expression on the president's face, the Doctor noted grimly.

"Oh my god, Astrid" Jack gasped as their young blonde companion was dragged out of a police car along with what appeared to be her family and transferred into the land rover the Master was stood in front of. The president went away leaving a smirking Master behind. "Doctor we have to do something!" Jack exclaimed with alarm as the Master and his wife got in the land Rover and it drove off.

"We should have used the perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck" Rose hissed.

"That's torchwood speaking" the Doctor said coldly. Rose scowled at him.

"There's nothing wrong with MY torchwood"

"The Master's a timelord, he's my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him, I'm here to save him" the Doctor explained, continuing as if Rose had never spoken.

"Aircraft carrier the valiant, it's a UNIT ship at 28:2N and 10:02E" Rose said glancing at her manipulator.

"How do we get on?" Jack asked. Rose simply grinned, dialled in a code and the three disappeared and reappeared in a maintence corridor. The Doctor immediately rushed off in one direction, leaving Jack and Rose to exchange surprise glances and rush of after him. They soon found themselves in the kidnapped Tardis, only when they walked in did they realise it was red and making horrible noises like it was sick.

"Doctor what's happened?" Rose asked worriedly.

"He's cannibalised the Tardis" the Doctor gaped, not bothering to hide his horror.

"That means...?"

"It's a paradox machine" he spat angrily. Without another thought, the timelord, immortal and...Jack, walked out of the ship and down the corridor towards the conference room, where they sneaked in and watched with terror plastered across their faces as the silver sphere things murdered the president of the united states. The Master leapt from his seat and began a rambling speech, babbling just about enough to rival the Doctor. Unfortunately the rambling didn't stop him from catching the Doctor in his attempt to expose the Master for what he really was, using the perception filter. Two guards grabbed hold of the Doctor and kept him in place as he struggled to break free of their grip.

"We meet at last Doctor" the Master grinned smugly. "Oh, ho! I love saying that!"

"Stop this! Stop this now!" the Doctor ordered feebly.

"As if the perception filters going to work on me, oh and look, it's the girlie and the freak, although I'm not sure which one's which" Rose had finally lost her temper and raced forwards towards the Doctor. Unfortunately for her, the Master had a laser screwdriver which he chose to shot at her. Sure enough, she felt a sharp, excruciating pain like no other race through her body. For normal people, this would kill them but for Rose it was just plain torture. She dropped to the floor temporarily lifeless. "Laser screwdriver, who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, she's not dead for long, I get to kill her again!" the Doctor growled angrily, drawing the Master's attention back to him.

"That sound in your head, what if I could help?" the Doctor pleaded. The Master rolled his eyes.

"Oh how to shut him up?" the lunatic snapped."I know. Memory lane. Professor Lazarus, remember him? And his genetic manipulator device? Did you think Astrid's sister got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying out traps for you all this time and if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver...but oh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code. Oh wait a minute I do!" the Master turned and pulled out the Doctor's hand in the purple jar from a silver brief case. Rose and Jack's expressions turned to one of horror at the thought of what the Master might do to the Doctor."And if Lazarus made him younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?" the Doctor's eyes widened as the Master fiddled with his screwdriver. Then he aimed it directly at the Doctor, who screamed in agony as the Master activated it. Rose desperately wanted to do something but could do nothing but watch as the Doctor was changed. Finally the screams died down and the Doctor stopped shaking about. Rose paled when she saw what was left in it's place. The Doctor's thick, spiky brown hair was now thin, balding and white. His thirty something face was now old, covered in wrinkles and liver spots. He could definitely pass more as Rose's great-great granddad than as her boyfriend. Rose blinked back tears as she crawled towards him and pulled him into a hug. Jack was there too within a second and was helping Rose hold the Doctor up. The Master observed the group with great smugness.

"Teleport" Rose hissed at Jack, slipping him her vortex manipulator. Jack looked at her concerned.

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, I'm staying with the Doctor. Now hurry, go, before he catches you" she whispered. Jack kissed Rose quickly on the cheek and give the Doctor a brief (but manly!) hug. At the same time this was happening the Master was talking through the TV cameras to the world and ordering the spheres to kill 10% of the population much to Rose and Jack's horror. Before Jack teleported out of there, the Doctor quickly whispered his instructions into his ear. Jack nodded and disappeared ina flash of purple light. The Master noticed this and looked annoyed but seemed not too fussed by it. After all ,nothing could stop him now right?. Rose glared at the Master with nothing but hate. While he and his wife stood smiling, horribly, out of the window of the conference room, Rose pulled the Doctor closer to her. Old or not, with him she felt safe. "This is horrible, everything's a mess" Rose cried. Glancing behind them, Rose noticed poor Astrid stood still in a trance, obviously still under the Master's mind control, Rose noticed and she was oblivious to the fact her family stood near her in servant outfits, taken prisoner by the Master.

"Jack can save everybody" the Doctor whispered in his new croaky voice, trying to reassure her."Astrid will be fine, the world will be fine". But at that moment in time, with the Master beaming victoriously as ruler of the world, Rose found it impossible to believe.


	32. One Year Later Pt1

**A/N : I'm doing this episode in about two or three parts since it's taking me beyond ages to update. I cannot make any promises about updating it soon but since this is being done in parts, I guess you could expect another one in one or two weeks depending. If I get five or six reviews for this chapter I'll try to get the 2nd part up A.S.A.P. _Jess._ **

* * *

It was precisely one year later when Jack Harkness returned to England via boat. He got out of the boat and walked up the beach towards a tall, handsome man that was waiting for him. However Jack didn't flirt with him as he normally would have done. He'd seen too much through the year to be flirty with random people, it would have to wait til this was all over. "So what's your name then?" Jack asked the guy, grinning nochantly even though inside he was tired and worn out. Travelling the world did that to a person, he guessed.

"Tom Milligan, no need to ask who you are, the famous Jack Harkness. How long since you were last in Britain?" The man, Tom, asked Jack politely.

"Three hundred and sixty five days. It's been a hell of a year" Jack replied as they began walking.

"So what's the plan?" Tom inquired.

"This professor Docherty – I need to see her. Can you get me there?"

"She works in a repair shed, nuclear plant 7. I can get you inside. What's all this for? What's so important about her?" Tom looked at him with a curious expression.

"Sorry the more you know, the more you at risk" Jack answered regretfully.

"There are a lot of people depending on you – you're a bit of a legend you know" Tom commented.

"Really, what does the legend say?"

"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you're the only person to get out of Japan alive.' Jack Harkness' they say, 'He's gonna save the world' but it's a bit late for that" Tom said, sadly as they walked towards his truck.

"How come you can drive? Don't you get stopped?" Jack asked, curiously.

"Medical staff. Used to be in paediatrics back in the old days but that gives me a licence to travel so I can help out a labour camps" he explained. Jack nodded in understanding and got into the passengers side of the truck, listening to Tom drone on about all the rumours about him. Not a single one was true and many were just plain ridiculous like that he was only one who could kill the Master. He was not some bloody miracle worker for goodness sake, he was only human but the way they talked they made him out to be some sort of god, which he was really not.

* * *

Meanwhile on the valiant, the Doctor had to sit in a wheelchair (being one hundred years old made it quite hard to move a lot) and endure the master dancing and singing along to _I can't decide _by _the Scissor sisters. _He smirked at the Doctor cruelly as he sat down at the head of the conference table and rung a little bell that he seemed to carry around with him almost all the time."Rosie!" he chimed. "Rose, oh my sweet little Rose bud, come and get you butt here right now!"

A second later, the Doctor's heart skipped with relief at seeing Rose. He was barely ever allowed to see her in the entire year and here she was standing in the same room as him...wearing a very vskimpy, strapless, leather dress and her delicate face was covered heavily in rather slutty make-up and she did not look happy about it at all. Neither was the Doctor but it wasn't as if he could do anything about it at the moment, could he?. However her eyes lit up when they met with his, only to dim again when the Master began barking out commands."Rose, really what took you so long? Don't do it again or I'll be force to punish you...or your little lover although I wouldn't call him your lover right now, more like granddad" he chuckled.

"Just shut up!" Rose growled and the Doctor scowled as the Master took out his laser screwdriver and shot her with it. She dropped the ground, temporarily dead.

"She's feisty I can see why you like her" The Master smirked, leering at Rose pervertively. His wife Lucy was stood in the corner, trying to hide her hurt expression but failed miserably."However, I will not tolerate her speaking to me that way ever again". Rose chose that moment to open her eyes and picked herself up off the floor, just in time to hear the Master's lecture. "I demand respect"

"Which you don't deserve" she muttered."You called Master?"

"Ah yes Rose, I would like a cup of tea and biscuits, oh and a coffee for dear Lucy. Do be quick about it" he grinned smugly. Rose at that moment, wanted nothing more than to slap the smug expression of his sleazy face. However, she didn't. She simply gritted her teeth, nodded and walked out angrily. The sooner the Master's reign of terror came to an end, the better. Unbeknownst to Rose, every single person on planet Earth at that moment in time was thinking the exact same thing, not that that was much of a surprise given the state of things at that point in time. After Rose had left, the Master pushed the Doctor towards the nearest window and began taunting him about the toclafane and what they really were. The Doctor felt like somebody had twisted his stomach in a knot but he forced his expression to remain completely blank, he wouldn't give the Master the satisfaction of seeing him angry or sad or both for that matter.

* * *

Jack and Tom pulled up in a rocky valley, got out of the car and began walking. Jack raised an eyebrow at the statue of the Master caved in rock. He wasn't really surprised – he'd seen them all over. The Master really thought he was something special. "All over Earth those things – he's even carved himself into mount Rushmore! Unbelievable" Jack told his companion wearily.

"Best to keep down" Tom replied."Here we go" Jack and Tom hid beneath a couple of rocks and peered over, staring at the sight of half a dozen rockets and toclafane whizzing about."The entire south coast of England converted into shipyards, they bring slave labour every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for metal. Building a fleet out of scrap"

"Russia's even worst" Jack said grimly."That's shipyard number one – all the way from the black sea to Bering Strait. There's one hundred million rockets ready for war"

"War? With who?" Tom frowned with bemusement.

"The rest of the universe. I've been out there, Tom, in space. Before all of this happened" Jack explained with a dark scowl."And there are a thousand different civilizations all around us with no idea what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all"

"You've been in space?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Yes and...?" Jack replied, oblivious to his companion's disbelief.

"Right then..." Tom drawled."Anything else I should know?"

"I was nearly feed to a giant spider on my wedding day" he shrugged, missing Tom's look of complete confusion. Before he could reply to Jack, however, two toclafane appeared from behind and began demanding identification. Tom quickly whipped out his I.D.

"I've got a license. Tom Milligan, peripatetic, medical squad. I'm allowed to travel, I was just check-"

"Soon the rockets will fly and everyone will need medicine. You'll be so busy" the toclafane cut him off with a sneer before flying away again. Tom turned and looked at Jack with curiosity.

"They didn't see you" . Jack then began to explain to Tom about what the archangel network was and how the key was hiding him before they began talking about their families or in Jack's case, lack there of.

"Come on" Jack said suddenly and got back into the truck."I need to see this Docherty woman"

"We'll have to wait until the next work shift. What time is it?"

"Three o' clock" Jack answered.4

* * *

The Master sat in his chair smirking widely as Rose re-entered the room with his biscuits and tea. She looked at the Doctor sadly, hoping that this would end soon and quickly. She hated seeing the Doctor so old and vulnerable, it broke her heart as cliché as that sounded, well at least it did to herself. Rose caught sight of Astrid standing alone in a corner, in a weird sort of trance. Her eyes were glazed over and she looked as if she was in a world of her own, which she probably was. Her clothes were dirty and ripped; she was wearing the same thing she had on a year ago and her hair looked as if it hadn't be washed in a year, which it literally hadn't. The Master couldn't even be bothered letting Astrid take care of herself, Rose noted with disdain. She turned around and noticed that the Master's wife was scowling at her and the Master was leering at her disgustingly again.

"Oh Rose this tea is wonderful" he complimented."However, my shoulder's aching pretty badly. I'd like a massage". Rose narrowed her eyes at him before obliging to his demands as she didn't want him to hurt the Doctor as he threatened to on regular bases."Rose when we get to the stars, I'm going to take you to Katria Nova. Whirlpools of gold" In reply, Rose simply hissed. "Lucy you really should take the time to get to know Rose better. Then we could have some real fun at night"

If the Doctor had been himself, he would have punched the Doctor without restraint , however being as it was, he couldn't do anything but glare. Lucy stared at her husband coldly and Rose fought the temptation to hit him, for like the one hundredth millionth time that year. She would be glad when this was all over and she was free to drop kick anybody she liked especially Britain's current prime minister. Rose watched as the Master got up and started getting himself ready for some transmission he was planning on sending out.

* * *

Jack and Tom walked up to a wired fence before Tom cut a hole in it for the two of them to fit through. The ran across an open area before finding a middle age woman stood hitting an old monitor. "Professor Docherty?" Tom asked.

"I'm busy" she grunted.

"They sent word ahead, I'm Tom Milligan" he told her, introducing himself."This is Jack Harkness"

"He can be the king of Sheba for all I care, I'm still busy" the middle age woman snapped.

"Televisions don't work anymore" Jack told her gently.

"Oh god I miss countdown! Hasn't been the same since Des took over- both Deses – but we've been told there's going to be a transmission from the man himself – there!" Docherty cried when static appeared on the monitor before revealing an image of the Master, who was grinning manically.

"My people, salutations on this eve of war, lovely woman. But I know there are all sorts of whispers down there . Stories of a man, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you...how much hope has this man got?" slowly the camera moved as the Master stood next to the Doctor. Jack stared at the Doctor with a mixture of worry and relief."Say hello, Gandalf Except he's not that old but he's an alien with a much greater life span than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life Doctor, what if we could see them?" the Master suggested with a psychotic gleam in his eyes. Jack watched with horror as the Master took out his screwdriver and pointed it once again at the Doctor. "Older and Older. Down you go Doctor" everyone watched shocked as the Doctor was age even more. He withered about in pain until it finally stopped. All Jack could see now was a the Doctor suit and trench coat in a pile on the floor until a head popped out suddenly with huge brown eyes that reminded Jack strongly of Dobby the house elf in the Harry Potter books. "Received and understood Mr Harkness?" the Master hissed sinisterly.

"I'm sorry" Tom said quietly as looked at his pale companion.

"The Doctor's still alive" Jack breathed.

"Obviously the arch angel network would seem to be...the Master's greatest weakness...15 satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance, it's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared" Docherty piped up.

"We could just take them out" Tom suggested.

"We could" Docherty agreed."15 ground to air missiles. You got any on you?. Besides any military action, the Toclafane descend"

"They're not called the Toclafane, that's just a name the lunatic made up" Jack grumbled.

"What are they then?" Docherty asked, interested.

"Now that's why I'm here to see you. Know your enemy" Jack told her."I've got this" Jack pulled out a computer CD."No one's been able to see the spheres close up, they can't even be damaged, except once, the lightening strike in South Africa, brought one of them down. Just by chance. I've got readings on this" Doherty took the CD from Jack and put it into the computer. She stared at it, impressed.

"Well, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates?"

"So that's why you've been travelling the world? To find a disc?" Tom asked with obvious disbelief.

"No, I just got lucky" Jack frowned."Why the hell would I travel the entire world to just find a CD? Don't be stupid"

"Sorry" Tom muttered.

"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon..." Doherty said as she worked."There! a current of fifty eight point five kilo amperes transferred rate of five hundred and ten mega joules precisely"

"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked her.

"I think so. Easily, yes" Docherty confirmed.

"All right then, Doctor Milligan, we're going to catch us a sphere" Jack said with a confident grin. Tom quickly made it outside with a gun in his hand then began running after a sphere, shooting. Doherty stayed making the final preparations."He's coming, aren't you?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You do your job, I'll do mine" Docherty retorted as she worked. Jack smirked and followed after Tom as Doherty turned on the power. The sphere was caught in the electrical feild and dropped to the ground. Jack, Tom and Doherty approached it, Tom holding his gun at it. "That's only half the job, let's find out what's inside" Doherty said picking it up.

TBC.....


	33. Author's Note

**_IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE : HIATUS_**

_I totally hate it when people post up notes instead of chapters but I think it's only fair to inform you that this story is being put on an indefinite hiatus until futher notice._

_I've just lost all enthusiasm for this story. I'll try to get back to it but I don't know if I will or not._


End file.
